I would try disassemblying and only connect the stuff that requires for a boot. So 1 ram stick, 1 ssd, the cpu fan and nothing else. With an external display.
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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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I'm not completely sure what aspect of the GPU upgrade would be related to the issues you are having. This might just be a more general High Sierra problem.
I have always used APFS with 10.13.6 on my SSD. I haven't noticed any issues with this configuration. If you really wanted, you could try to wipe the High Sierra installation again, and format the SSD with APFS, to begin with. This may fix things. You'd just need to use the disk utility program on the installer USB to erase the drive and reformat it as APFS. My understanding is that APFS is more appropriate than HFS+ for SSD drives anyway, hence why the computer automatically upgraded to it.
Perhaps before trying this, the customary zapping of PRAM and the SMC would be in order first? You could also try making a fresh Catalina Loader on another USB (so as to preserve your mostly functional USB), and check if that helps at all.
As it sounds like your computer was working quite well for a while, as long as the hardware has remained the same, I think it is more than likely that you can make the software functional again (it might take quite a bit of experimenting, though). 🙂
Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
Hi!
Yesterday I put the same WX4150 model from the same seller into one 27 Mid 2010 (iMac11,3) and got it working very quickly. When I tried to change the SATA HDD with a SATA SSD (Crucial MX500 500GB) the system refuses to boot at all.
Some illumination hit me and I took a SATA splitter cable to put it in between the SSD and power cable coming from the power supply. It solved the problem immediately.
I am writing because I believe you had several problems at the same time: The bad installation of the card onto the heat sink (without the copper plate) and this weird SSD problem (which I never had seen before).
Just a heads up. I do not know what your SDD problem solved at the very end.
Umarx
macrumors member
Thanks but I can not go to APFS as my CL package has clear instructions to avoid APFS containers. I would rather reinstall clean and update to 005 > 006 as I did prior to card swap. Will update here
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Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
Nobody has ever written or meant this. Simply do no share the same APFS partition between different macOS versions using APFS containers.
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Nguyen Duc Hieu
macrumors 68040
I was about to do the exact thing you advise against...
Thanks for the warning.
Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
As charming the idea of sharing the capacity of a single SSD is as bad the implementation of Apple is. You cannot manage a single APFS with a bunch of containers having different manOS versions installed. It will break most likely on the first attempt to touch a Big Sur container from Catalina....
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RTouris
macrumors member
Longtime reader, first time poster in this thread. Kudos on the work done so far, this is truly amazing!
I'm on an iMac11,1 27'' late 2009 i5 currently maxed out w/ 32GB of 1333Mhz RAM and an SSD (granted on a SATAII interface - still), on dosdude1's latest Mojave running on a Radeon HD4850/512. As the machine stands today it works wonders for it's age, however on the GPU front it lacks considerably being unable to properly playback (as in CPU/software-decode) high bitrate (>80mbps) h264 content occasionally. Obviously I'm on the lookout for a decently-priced MXM GPU replacement that will allow me to keep this as a secondary home-unit as soon as I upgrade to the M1(X) iMacs this year probably. Use will primarily be focused towards light family FCP / media production - need much more efficient 4K media transcoding to 1080p or 2.5k, so videotoolbox / Metal capabilities are a humongous bonus (missing now) / web browsing and casual teleconferencing, as well as light gaming and office work.
I'm actively weighing my options between the solutions on the first page and to be honest the Quadro K3100M (75W TDP) actually looks like a good choice. I know my setup comes with the 2-pipe heatsink, could someone chime in if other than that there's anything I'm missing on this GPU (erratas, compatibility, metal support, glitches etc)? On thew TDP front would it be possible to 'downclock' the card via the BIOS so as to retain the current heatsink or is using a 3-pipe one an absolute prerequisite? I'm asking since the Radeon HD4850 on this system is supposedly a 100W TDP card (which I can't say I have verified since according to iStat readings the most amperage the card managed to pull while stress-testing using Unigine's Heaven was a mere 4.5A on 12V which puts it at apprx. 54W)...
Your input is appreciated, thanks in advance
I'm on an iMac11,1 27'' late 2009 i5 currently maxed out w/ 32GB of 1333Mhz RAM and an SSD (granted on a SATAII interface - still), on dosdude1's latest Mojave running on a Radeon HD4850/512. As the machine stands today it works wonders for it's age, however on the GPU front it lacks considerably being unable to properly playback (as in CPU/software-decode) high bitrate (>80mbps) h264 content occasionally. Obviously I'm on the lookout for a decently-priced MXM GPU replacement that will allow me to keep this as a secondary home-unit as soon as I upgrade to the M1(X) iMacs this year probably. Use will primarily be focused towards light family FCP / media production - need much more efficient 4K media transcoding to 1080p or 2.5k, so videotoolbox / Metal capabilities are a humongous bonus (missing now) / web browsing and casual teleconferencing, as well as light gaming and office work.
I'm actively weighing my options between the solutions on the first page and to be honest the Quadro K3100M (75W TDP) actually looks like a good choice. I know my setup comes with the 2-pipe heatsink, could someone chime in if other than that there's anything I'm missing on this GPU (erratas, compatibility, metal support, glitches etc)? On thew TDP front would it be possible to 'downclock' the card via the BIOS so as to retain the current heatsink or is using a 3-pipe one an absolute prerequisite? I'm asking since the Radeon HD4850 on this system is supposedly a 100W TDP card (which I can't say I have verified since according to iStat readings the most amperage the card managed to pull while stress-testing using Unigine's Heaven was a mere 4.5A on 12V which puts it at apprx. 54W)...
Your input is appreciated, thanks in advance
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Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
No Nvidia card has to my knowledge videotoolbox support and your current card has a TDP of 50W.
Fortunately each AMD card in the list may work in your iMac11,1.
Fortunately each AMD card in the list may work in your iMac11,1.
RobertL39
macrumors member
Thanks! I've got another coming soon. Allegedly directly from a Dell 4800 and working normally. We'll see!
RTouris
macrumors member
Thanks for your input, much appreciated! 🙂
So we're specifically talking about the WX41x0 AMD cards here which also fall in the 50W TDP category, right?
I'm afraid though that most of the (newer) WX41x0 AMD cards are (currenty?) just too expensive to justify testing out BIOS flashing etc...I'm seeing the WX4130/50/70s starting off from ~$250-300 onwards...At the same time the much much older Quadro K3100m i can source for about $100. Compared to the stock 4850 the Quadro should be about 3 times as fast in 3D, is much more modern, supports the Metal framework and offers much more VRAM which should (in theory) help with driving 2 monitors, many windows etc..
On the TDP front there's a couple of K3100m installations on iMac11,1s in the spreadsheet provided and bearing in mind that this has the same PSU that is used in similar 11,1 systems to power a more power-hungry i7 I'd say an extra 25W wouldn't be that much of a big deal, or am I wrong?
I'd really like to hear your opinion on this, perhaps I'm looking at it from a different perspective and surely the newer AMD card are hugely more power-efficient but that alone along with the difficulty to source second hand units somewhat make me look towards the nVidias again..
Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
All the 27" iMacs from Late 2009 until Late 2012 (last edu model of the Mid 2011) share a lot of parts, the power supply is nearly the same and you can exchange it (all approx. 310W). So all models will run fine with the bigger 70W cards, I have a Mid 2010 with an RX480 (the system I am writing from right now). So again, technically all AMD cards may run (if working) in your iMac11,1 system (and using a three pipe heat sink with MXM-B cards).
Glitches: The iMac11,1 offers a nice feature called total eclipse with the NVIDIA cards (black screen issue). There is a work around.
You started posting your wish list of features and I just pointed out that no NVIDIA card will really help with video encoding. Since you already made up your mind the last I can say is re read the first post about your options and compare it to your real needs. I already repeated too much from this post.
I am not good at writing or saying what others would like to hear, sorry.
Glitches: The iMac11,1 offers a nice feature called total eclipse with the NVIDIA cards (black screen issue). There is a work around.
You started posting your wish list of features and I just pointed out that no NVIDIA card will really help with video encoding. Since you already made up your mind the last I can say is re read the first post about your options and compare it to your real needs. I already repeated too much from this post.
I am not good at writing or saying what others would like to hear, sorry.
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Hey i am using the wx 4130 in the mid2010 21,5. I downloaded the kext utility and thre the AppleGraphicsControl.kext onto it but still I do not get any apple Loading screen nor any screen. It stays black. What am I missing?
Probably I am not able to get into the recovery mode and disable SIP for example wich is mandatory for the cl and catalina install for ex.
Thanks
Probably I am not able to get into the recovery mode and disable SIP for example wich is mandatory for the cl and catalina install for ex.
Thanks
Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
You are missing possibly everything?
You need to find the plan which is hidden on the secret first post! You need to follow it step by step!
You do not need the AGC patch (NVIDIA, only)!
You do not need to patch any extension if you would stick to the plan and test your card with the latest supported macOS version which is High Sierra.
You will not see or get an Apple loading screen until you use OpenCore!
You do not need OpenCore to test the card and get the display enabled, it will come up after complete boot of High Sierra or Sierra (both versions have the drivers included).
You cannot start with the most complex macOS (unsupported Catalina) installation when you cannot even install and use High Sierra (supported macOS)!
You do not need to disable SIP if you get successfully enabled OpenCore (it will do the job magically).
Please, try at least. I am more than willing to correct any errors in the docs and plans we provide. But I will not guide you or others remotely step by step through a plan (you should have prepared yourself, by the way).
RTouris
macrumors member
Again let me thank you for your valuable input,it must be somewhat frustrating repeating the same again and again. However having been in the same ship for the better part of my life - both professional and otherwise - so far let me just state the obvious here that this being a community forum you can't expect all to be covered by what's outlined in either page 1 or others reading through 553 pages of info and posts.
Having said that first off I definitely haven't made up my mind with regards to my options yet, this being indicative of the fact that I'm asking about my options and trying to come up with an equilibrium which also takes account of the costs involved. [edit]
Granted it's far more ambiguous with regards to what model supports which encoder, what colour depth, the OS in general and what have you hence my original post here..In any case your expertise being tightly bound to the fact that you have been here since day one of this thread obviously gives you a far cleaner idea of what the whole picture is, so on that front I welcome your suggestions and surely will consider the AMD option - if I can only manage to source a cheaper unit.
Thanks again.
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Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
If you have any facts that back up your claim NVIDIA GPUs have Videotoolbox support on macOS I would like to add this to the first post.
Otherwise you are free to read what the community effort of others had created over the last nearly 8 years to reach the personal equilibrium.
The_Croupier
macrumors 6502
Well, thank you once again Ausdauer, but some posts are not easy to understand...at least for me. Also Im doing this aside of all my other things. There is no real learning process as i have no capability to understand it properly...Im just goign by the posts and trial and error. Like it is written in the first post...no plug and play...still eventually somebody will step up and consolidate all the info once in a while, bringing it to a new level...
Ive choosen the wrong link. I was going by opencore legacy patcher and hang myself up onto disabling SIP wich i cannot disable without opencore. In the original post by nick no SIP deactivation is mentioned. So far so good....WIll try ecerything out once more when im off work....Thank you!
Ive choosen the wrong link. I was going by opencore legacy patcher and hang myself up onto disabling SIP wich i cannot disable without opencore. In the original post by nick no SIP deactivation is mentioned. So far so good....WIll try ecerything out once more when im off work....Thank you!
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Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
Even the OCLP has an option to disable SIP (when creating the EFI folder). You can go this way, too. The most easy way is to use my latest experimental OC package created together with @NOTNICE (linked in on the first post).
But for ....sake do the initial tests with High Sierra and learn how to work with all the tools before starting experiments on unsupported macOS versions.
andyzeo
macrumors newbie
Hey guys, I have another flashing failure report for the Quadro K3000M with Vbios 80.04.33.00.2E (possibly cleave)
Vram is Hynix H5GQ1H24BFR T2C 235A
had to recover the original bios to show something other than black again.
I can run high Sierra with the stock bios, but Catalina was a no-Go, using iMac 27 2009
IF somebody could manage to flash under this vbios, please share the wealth, much appreciated
cheers
Vram is Hynix H5GQ1H24BFR T2C 235A
had to recover the original bios to show something other than black again.
I can run high Sierra with the stock bios, but Catalina was a no-Go, using iMac 27 2009
IF somebody could manage to flash under this vbios, please share the wealth, much appreciated
cheers
Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
Have you patched both High Sierra and Catalina with the AGC to avoid the black screen?
It is completely normal to have a total black internal screen on the Late 2009 after each PRAM reset with NVIDIA cards.
andyzeo
macrumors newbie
Edit: AGC worked!! Thank you man! it had slipped me...much appreciated. gonna try flashing tomorrow again, not sure if it will work with that subsystem ID tho
--
On high Sierra it works on base system without any patch with stock vbios. I just don't have boot screen, bright control, but I have image. so no need for patching to make it work, I resetted pram many times over with it like this and no change in behavior, still gives me video.
So I don't think it's the PRAM issue (I might be wrong, tho) , I think it's more the subsystem ID version mismatch between the 2 vbios roms.
problem is when I try to use patched OS systems, Dosdude1’s Catalina Patcher gives me black screen all the way through, but it shows image with the old crappy AMD card. so the system is installed, but neither stock vbios or patched vbios give me video output.
I'll give the AGC a go now
the patched usb installer also doesn't load the video drivers for Nvidia in either Catalina Patcher, neither Mojave patcher, only black screen.
I'm not using opencore, nor I intend to with this machine, because it goes to a friend of mine that can't troubleshoot it later. Also, I'm lost in the step-by-step for opencore, couldn't do it properly, even after days researching and reading countless pages here (and elsewhere), people write for those who know it already, so the learning curve is steep.
I flashed the vbios via linux (which is what I wanted) but no video, then I restored the stock vbios and had video again, but no niceties.
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The_Croupier
macrumors 6502
Do your friend a favour then and give them the iMac with the supported High Sierra OS, they will have way less drama and a better user experience.
Ausdauersportler
macrumors 603
OpenCore with agpmod=vit9696 should do the same trick and installing it onto the EFI partition of the internal screen as described in the OpenCore docs makes it invisible for the user. There is no need to trouble shoot it then.
I wrote somewhere: It is not an easy task and one cannot make the problems just disappear. One has to solve them using the tools.
Hello all,
First, thank you all for all this helpful content in this community. Wouldn't have come this far anyway without this thread.
But now I'm stuck. After spending half the easter weekend in testing and searching this thread I'm lost.
I'm working on two stacked 2009 i7 11,1 iMacs, and the goal is to run them eventually on Catalina/ Big Sur.
Replaced the GPU for an K1100m board, which went fine. Worked in HS natively, no bootscreen nor Brightness.
Flashed the firmware using the SSH client solution, which also succeeded, but ended up with a black screen afterwards.
Went on with the Catalina Loader in order to sort things out.
After hours of swapping SSD's with HS/ Catalina, swapping GPU for an original one I figured out that somehow my output is mapped to the displayport/Thunderbolt, see image. this is why I get a black screen on my mac,but ofcourse an external screen works. Doing a PRAM reset allows me to get in normally, but restart is black over again.
Mounted the GPU in the other system, did a fresh install of CL and ended up with the same issue, so I guess this is stored in the GPU firmware.
How do I change the display default output from displayport to internal?
I used the K1100m.ROM which is linked on the first page.
thanks a lot for your help!
EDIT:
Or is this also to be solved with the AGC patch mentioned earlier?
First, thank you all for all this helpful content in this community. Wouldn't have come this far anyway without this thread.
But now I'm stuck. After spending half the easter weekend in testing and searching this thread I'm lost.
I'm working on two stacked 2009 i7 11,1 iMacs, and the goal is to run them eventually on Catalina/ Big Sur.
Replaced the GPU for an K1100m board, which went fine. Worked in HS natively, no bootscreen nor Brightness.
Flashed the firmware using the SSH client solution, which also succeeded, but ended up with a black screen afterwards.
Went on with the Catalina Loader in order to sort things out.
After hours of swapping SSD's with HS/ Catalina, swapping GPU for an original one I figured out that somehow my output is mapped to the displayport/Thunderbolt, see image. this is why I get a black screen on my mac,but ofcourse an external screen works. Doing a PRAM reset allows me to get in normally, but restart is black over again.
Mounted the GPU in the other system, did a fresh install of CL and ended up with the same issue, so I guess this is stored in the GPU firmware.
How do I change the display default output from displayport to internal?
I used the K1100m.ROM which is linked on the first page.
thanks a lot for your help!
EDIT:
Or is this also to be solved with the AGC patch mentioned earlier?
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