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

[BadBiscuit]

Any idea?

Hello there!

Would NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M GDDR5 2GB - (N15P-GX-B-A2 MXM) work on my 27 inch Imac late 2009 with the @nickey22's custom firmware?

And do I need kinda flash my 2009 bootrom or smc to 2010?

EDITED: And can I use the 2-pipe heatsink build-in late 2009?

Thank you for your help!
Jeremias

My only thought is on your heatsink query. I think you will want to get the recommended 3-pipe one to assure it does not overheat, or go with a lower power MXM-A card. As far as bootrom version and the 860M, I have no experience, though if no one responds that does, it would not hurt to try installing it as is. Just flash card rom to start With. If it works you can then pull it and upgrade the heatsink to prevent overheating later. I would not buy a 3-pipe HS until you know it will work, though that would save you the time/hassle of a re-install. Just keep a copy of the original bios and you can always flash back if needed.

 

[passatgt]

Thanks. This solved my issue: #12,897

But sadly this WX4130 card is not working in my 2011 27"(as expected?). Flash was successful, but after the chime its just black screen, both internal/external, num lock is not working, so its not booted up. I will keep trying but i guess its a dead end, might work with a 09 or 10 iMac.

Ok, tried everything and i gave up on this Based on the first post, its possible that it works with a a 2009 or 2010 iMac. It is a Dell card, 4GB, WX4130. Flashed with the RX560 bios mentioned in the first post. If someone wants to try this in an older iMac, DM me. It is known to be working(pulled from a working dell laptop). I can sell it for $55 + shipping, but no warranty.

 

[jeremiasm]

Ok, tried everything and i gave up on this Based on the first post, its possible that it works with a a 2009 or 2010 iMac. It is a Dell card, 4GB, WX4130. Flashed with the RX560 bios mentioned in the first post. If someone wants to try this in an older iMac, DM me. It is known to be working(pulled from a working dell laptop). I can sell it for $55 + shipping, but no warranty.

I would, but I cant DM because I'm a newbie at Macrumors.
Just put up a new conversation with you.

 

[dfranetic]

Ok, tried everything and i gave up on this Based on the first post, its possible that it works with a a 2009 or 2010 iMac. It is a Dell card, 4GB, WX4130. Flashed with the RX560 bios mentioned in the first post. If someone wants to try this in an older iMac, DM me. It is known to be working(pulled from a working dell laptop). I can sell it for $55 + shipping, but no warranty.

I also can't DM and I am also interested. Please DM me if the card is still available. (I'm based in EU.)

 

[sieuwe01]

Hi everyone

Just a quick question. I installed my wx4170 in my 2011 27' imac. After booting into windows I used team viewer to flash the card. After a reboot it worked perfectly and have an image on my screen. However I am now booting into windows every time since I set windows as default. Howe can I boot into high sierra without the boot picker? I suppose I need to use open core, but I could not find clear instructions for it.

thanks

Sieuwe

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Hi everyone

Just a quick question. I installed my wx4170 in my 2011 27' imac. After booting into windows I used team viewer to flash the card. After a reboot it worked perfectly and have an image on my screen. However I am now booting into windows every time since I set windows as default. Howe can I boot into high sierra without the boot picker? I suppose I need to use open core, but I could not find clear instructions for it.

thanks

Sieuwe

1- Try to set boot disk to macos in bootcamp.
2- If you have windows and high sierra on two separate disks, just disconnect physically windows disk.
3- Use Opencore.

Without Opencore, you will not have bootscreen on internal display with flashed AMD cards.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

FINAL UPDATE:
User error (bad user, bad user). The kext is fine for this panel. I just realized that OpenCore is what injects it within the system where it is working. The system with the K3000M had not needed OpenCore, BUT when booted from it, the max brightness issue is now resolved. I'd prefer not to use it for seems to cause Win10 issues, and is otherwise not needed by the other macOS installed. I'll try to add the kext to Big Sur only. I'm a little scared to try manually updating a kext on it, but suspect that is the best way to proceed.

You are an expert! From the very beginning we had this divide into non OC and OC GPUs. When changing the system you need to reinstall. Same would be necessary if moving from NVIDIA to AMD or vice versa.

Use the next update of your system and patch the system then according to the new GPU - using Big Sur I wouldn’t go away from OC. It offers OTA (full) upgrades and a lot of other useful things.

BTW:
Most if not any special needs of our metal enabled iMacs went into OCLP. This is the next step I will not longer provide updates of OC.

 

[sieuwe01]

1- Try to set boot disk to macos in bootcamp.
2- If you have windows and high sierra on two separate disks, just disconnect physically windows disk.
3- Use Opencore.

Without Opencore, you will not have bootscreen on internal display with flashed AMD cards.

I wanted to use the bootcamp tool in windows to change the boot device. However bootcamp could not find my mac os installation high sierra anymore? I also have a second ssd with my original high sierra install. I used another ssd with a clean high sierra to be safe. After replacing my ssd I was able to boot into high sierra but only with a black screen. I can connect with team viewer but after I type my password team viewer crashes and cant connect. Only after a restart can I connect but then it crashes again. Why is it crashing after logging in? On windows everything is working fine.

Thanks

Sieuwe

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi everyone

Just a quick question. I installed my wx4170 in my 2011 27' imac. After booting into windows I used team viewer to flash the card. After a reboot it worked perfectly and have an image on my screen. However I am now booting into windows every time since I set windows as default. Howe can I boot into high sierra without the boot picker? I suppose I need to use open core, but I could not find clear instructions for it.

thanks

Sieuwe

Tried to read the first post -> opencore section? It is hard to believe that you were able to pick the WX4170 from there and could ignore all the other docs linked in there?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Any idea?

Yes, start reading the first (wiki) post on page one of this thread. I wonder where you got the idea to flash the 2010 firmware into the 2009 from. It is working after some changes but it has never really proposed as a solution here.
I really love this „any idea“ comments. There is a search button on top of the page in case you do not like reading docs or cannot wait for answers.

 

[globetribe]

Ok, tried everything and i gave up on this Based on the first post, its possible that it works with a a 2009 or 2010 iMac. It is a Dell card, 4GB, WX4130. Flashed with the RX560 bios mentioned in the first post. If someone wants to try this in an older iMac, DM me. It is known to be working(pulled from a working dell laptop). I can sell it for $55 + shipping, but no warranty.

Don't know if it matters but your card has elpida vram on while mine has samsung.

 

[The_Croupier]

BTW, can you ever have enough USB sticks? I know I can't ...

Looks like a well organised cookie jar full of usb biscuits 😜

 

[passatgt]

Don't know if it matters but your card has elpida vram on while mine has samsung.

This card is known to be wonky based on the first post, especially with 2011 iMacs, might be related, not sure. I will try a couple of things tomorrow but i think it's a dead end in this specific iMac.

 

[The_Croupier]

good evening, I installed my k610m on imac 2011 21.5 and as you can see in the picture only one led lights up. As soon as I turn it on, the LEDs become two. I tried to use the Xanderson usb stik method but I can't flash the video card. Has anyone had problems like mine?

Those LEDs are normal until you flash the card.
If you want help you need to fully explain in detail what you have tried, what errors you are getting, where you are stuck etc.
Its no good to just say "I can't flash the video card"

 

[internetzel]

This card is known to be wonky based on the first post, especially with 2011 iMacs, might be related, not sure. I will try a couple of things tomorrow but i think it's a dead end in this specific iMac.

The "Dell RX 560 2GB.ROM" should support Elpida EDW4032BABG 1.35V VRAM - but my testing card had Samsung VRAM, so I can't tell whether or not it really works.
Did you try booting in the iMac with the original VBIOS installed? Could you upload the original VBIOS?
Are the chips of said type?

If I remember correctly the cards that don't work at all didn't even let the iMac make the boot chime, so there's still hope.

 

[sieuwe01]

Tried to read the first post -> opencore section? It is hard to believe that you were able to pick the WX4170 from there and could ignore all the other docs linked in there?

I did not saw the detailed instructions to make one before. But after some digging I found your nice pdf document with clear instructions. I now have a catalina loader usb stick with a AMD config.plist. However it is not really helpfull since I cant select it as boot device. This is because my Imac only gives a black screen. First windows was working fine but now after using the catalina loader usb stick I cant boot into windows anymore.

Also I mistyped in my previous post. I have a WX4130.

I have two ssd's. One with my original high sierra install and all my data. The second one has only a fresh high sierra install and windows bootcamp with flashing tools.

With the first ssd "the one with all my data", I get a black screen and fans ramp up. I can login with team viewer and then I see the mac os high sierra login screen. But when I enter my password and press enter team viewer freezes. A restart is needed to end this.

With the second ssd I also now get a black screen. While before I was able to boot into windows 7 and use it as normal with the internal screen. I do see the device on my network and I can ssh into it. But I dont know the password or username since I used the simple bootcamp package installer from here. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-191?post=28253271#post-28253271

What should I follow to fix the black screen? I cant really find anything about complete black screens in the first post. Only about black screens at boot.

Thanks

sieuwe

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I did not saw the detailed instructions to make one before. But after some digging I found your nice pdf document with clear instructions. I now have a catalina loader usb stick with a AMD config.plist. However it is not really helpfull since I cant select it as boot device. This is because my Imac only gives a black screen. First windows was working fine but now after using the catalina loader usb stick I cant boot into windows anymore.

Also I mistyped in my previous post. I have a WX4130.

I have two ssd's. One with my original high sierra install and all my data. The second one has only a fresh high sierra install and windows bootcamp with flashing tools.

With the first ssd "the one with all my data", I get a black screen and fans ramp up. I can login with team viewer and then I see the mac os high sierra login screen. But when I enter my password and press enter team viewer freezes. A restart is needed to end this.

With the second ssd I also now get a black screen. While before I was able to boot into windows 7 and use it as normal with the internal screen. I do see the device on my network and I can ssh into it. But I dont know the password or username since I used the simple bootcamp package installer from here. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-191?post=28253271#post-28253271

What should I follow to fix the black screen? I cant really find anything about complete black screens in the first post. Only about black screens at boot.

Thanks

sieuwe

Buy an Nvidia card if you want to use Windows or an AMD card if you target is macOS.

You need to Boot OpenCore to enable the internal screen and I am quite not sure if you really got this.

Make sure that after pram reset the High Sierra SSD boots - change sata cables to change boot order.

Use OpenCore on the Catalina loader or install it to the boot disk following the Dortania docs - all described on the first post.

 

[internetzel]

I did not saw the detailed instructions to make one before. But after some digging I found your nice pdf document with clear instructions. I now have a catalina loader usb stick with a AMD config.plist. However it is not really helpfull since I cant select it as boot device. This is because my Imac only gives a black screen. First windows was working fine but now after using the catalina loader usb stick I cant boot into windows anymore.

Also I mistyped in my previous post. I have a WX4130.

I have two ssd's. One with my original high sierra install and all my data. The second one has only a fresh high sierra install and windows bootcamp with flashing tools.

With the first ssd "the one with all my data", I get a black screen and fans ramp up. I can login with team viewer and then I see the mac os high sierra login screen. But when I enter my password and press enter team viewer freezes. A restart is needed to end this.

With the second ssd I also now get a black screen. While before I was able to boot into windows 7 and use it as normal with the internal screen. I do see the device on my network and I can ssh into it. But I dont know the password or username since I used the simple bootcamp package installer from here. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-191?post=28253271#post-28253271

What should I follow to fix the black screen? I cant really find anything about complete black screens in the first post. Only about black screens at boot.

Thanks

sieuwe

Well, this whole thread is about taking the challenge to get those later graphics card working in a late 2009 to mid 2011 iMac. It's you who takes this challenge and all information is at your hand in this gigantic thread.
So don't give up until you get this working! Keep trying, practicing, learning, damaging, repairing and wasting time and money.

 

[sieuwe01]

Buy an Nvidia card if you want to use Windows or an AMD card if you target is macOS.

You need to Boot OpenCore to enable the internal screen and I am quite not sure if you really got this.

Make sure that after pram reset the High Sierra SSD boots - change sata cables to change boot order.

Use OpenCore on the Catalina loader or install it to the boot disk following the Dortania docs - all described on the first post.

Thanks for the reply. I want to use Mac OS. Windows was only for flashing the card. Could it be that the card was flashed incorrectly? That it works in windows but not Mac OS?

I have a external display using a mini display port to hdmi adapter hooked up. This one also gives a black screen. Is Catalina loader only for enabling internal screen or also for enabling video in general?

For setting up the Catalina loader I think the best step would be to install the old card. Then install high Sierra and setup to boot from open core. Then install the new graphics card again and see if the screen then works?

Also has any of you had the login freeze issue before? I know this card should work since there is another one here that has his wx4130 working with his iMac 2011 and that has Samsung memory. So weird that I get different results with the same hardware.

Thanks

Sieuwe

 

[The_Croupier]

weird that I get different results with the same hardware.

Actually not so weird at all when modding iMacs. Its a regular occurrence with usually no rhyme or reason.
Read through this entire thread and you will see that many users have varying results with seemingly identical hardware.

This is where sometimes luck comes into the equation.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

I did not saw the detailed instructions to make one before. But after some digging I found your nice pdf document with clear instructions. I now have a catalina loader usb stick with a AMD config.plist. However it is not really helpfull since I cant select it as boot device. This is because my Imac only gives a black screen. First windows was working fine but now after using the catalina loader usb stick I cant boot into windows anymore.

Also I mistyped in my previous post. I have a WX4130.

I have two ssd's. One with my original high sierra install and all my data. The second one has only a fresh high sierra install and windows bootcamp with flashing tools.

With the first ssd "the one with all my data", I get a black screen and fans ramp up. I can login with team viewer and then I see the mac os high sierra login screen. But when I enter my password and press enter team viewer freezes. A restart is needed to end this.

With the second ssd I also now get a black screen. While before I was able to boot into windows 7 and use it as normal with the internal screen. I do see the device on my network and I can ssh into it. But I dont know the password or username since I used the simple bootcamp package installer from here. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-191?post=28253271#post-28253271

What should I follow to fix the black screen? I cant really find anything about complete black screens in the first post. Only about black screens at boot.

Thanks

sieuwe

On high sierra, you have a black screen problem to resolve.
If you can make a fresh HS install on an external HDD or SSD in another supported mac, with auto login, and teamviewer autolaunching, you can use this external HS install to boot your unsupported iMac.
Without Opencore you should reach desktop ( EFI blindly), and if black screen problem is resolved you will have internal display, if not you will be able to connect via teamviewer.
Setting a shared password in teamviewer prefs is a good practice.

 

[globetribe]

This card is known to be wonky based on the first post, especially with 2011 iMacs, might be related, not sure. I will try a couple of things tomorrow but i think it's a dead end in this specific iMac.

also it seems there is two kind of Bios for the AMD card... may be worth trying the other one

 

[bluecrowHH]

EDIT: 8/16/20 NEW AGC kexts have been added to change "board-id" to "board-ix" in the AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy binary. This has the same affect as "agdpmod=pikera" from Whatevergreen, this upload is for AMD users.

"instant on" K3100m/k4100m/k5100m/780m etc cards need this kext to fix DisplayPort Output.

I'm uploading a patched AppleGrapahicsControl.kext that is now necessary as of 10.15.4, the symptoms after this update are a blank screen but system sounds are heard when holding down the Escape key, as well a loss of any Displayport output. The cause of this is Apple Clamping down on 3rd party kexts from loading, this mainly affects hackintosh users, but affects us as our iMacs are no longer a supported platform.

What does this patched AppleGraphicsControl.kext do to allow 2009-2011 iMacs to properly boot? We now need our board ID's to be added to the AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext within AppleGraphicsControl.kext, this allows the kext to properly load on boot, before this wasn't necessarily needed. I have so far all known 5 board ID's that are supported on our thread.

iMac12,2	(27-inch Mid 2011)	Mac-942B59F58194171B
iMac12,1	(21.5-inch Mid 2011)	Mac-942B5BF58194151B
iMac11,3	(27-inch Mid 2010)	Mac-F2238BAE
iMac11,2	(21.5-inch Mid 2010)	Mac-F2238AC8
iMac11,1	(27-inch Late 2009)	Mac-F2268DAE

Thanks to @Ausdauersportler for the helping/testing for this kext.

How to install when your iMac boots with a Blank screen? (assuming your LCD works just fine)

When booting you need to Hold Alt/Option to bring up the AppleBootPicker, then select the Catalina partition. Since the iMac's Screen is already on when using AppleBootPicker the iMacs screen will remain on the entire boot process allowing you to log in and then proceed to install the Patched AppleGraphicsControl Kext.

To install this kext
1. unlock your System partition, open terminal enter

sudo mount -uw /
killall Finder

2. drag the kext on-top of the kext utility icon let it install/timeout with an error.

3. Open terminal and enter "sudo reboot" skipping this step may leave your iMac hanging at the desktop (A Catalina issue)


Make sure to unzip the kext to a new folder, so there aren't any "1" or "2"... at the end of the AppleGraphicsControl.kext filename. Remember the is replacing the System Kext in System/Library/Extensions and must be done using Kext Utility linked here http://cvad-mac.narod.ru/index/0-4.

Hi . Is it possible to install that kext file via another Imac while using the same internal High Sierra HDD wich is placed into the other Imac afterwards? Thanks!

A Windows 10 Question: After upgrading the Imac to the WX4130 is it possible to install Windows 10 on 2010 and 2011 Imac without issues and full support?

 

[dannyp881]

Lo stato del LED sembra normale per una scheda non lampeggiante con il pannello LCD spento. Devi concentrarti sul tuo metodo lampeggiante. Hai pre-testato la chiavetta USB? Cosa si intende con "non può lampeggiare"?

Ciao, scusa se rispondo solo ora, intendo comunque che sono arrivato a questo punto e non posso andare avanti. dove sbaglio? questa è la prima volta che faccio una cosa del genere. Ho anche provato la chiavetta sull'altro Mac e funziona bene.

 

[xbox3605]

Hello everyone,

I've been reworking the K3100M ROM and the related blackscreen issue/boot loop issue that some of you have been dealing with. As @Ausdauersportler mentioned, it could be related to an interaction between the bootrom and the efi driver. Apple added a security update, 2020-005 and then 2020-006 which could be breaking some compatibility at least in the IM12,2 (2011) generation, although they kept the same bootrom version after the 2020-006 update:
Bootrom: 87.0.0.0.0
SMC version: 1.72f2

I'm currently running my modded rom in a test machine (iMac 27", 2011, High Sierra 10.13.6)
It is working well, no black screen upon driver initialization now and login screen should be present upon reboots.
It survives a PRAM reset as well
I added this line to the AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext under the ConfigMap key:

<key>Mac-942B59F58194171B</key>
<string>none</string>

but I'm not sure it is necessary for High Sierra.

Anyhow, the results are very encouraging:
View attachment 1748221
If a few others who own a K3100M could test the ROM out on a 2011 machine (or other machines), I'd appreciate the feedback. As far as I can tell, it should work well with the -BFR and/or -AFR variants, but I could be wrong. I'll update the main K3100M rom page with the new ROM to keep our iMacs working "insanely great!"
Enjoy!

Hi, I have black screen when try to boot in windows, after a couple of pram it's booting, i'm in high sierra now sometimes port usb dont work only after pram, long with screen when booting in high Sierra sometimes... in my case nothing change in compare with previous rom


Model Identifier:iMac12,2
Processor Name:Intel Core i7
Memory: 24 GB
Boot ROM Version:87.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system):1.72f1