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

[aa004737]

I am trying to upgrade my iMac 12,2 graphics card and I can’t figure out witch card is the best I have gone through all the documentation that it’s provided, my goal is to have a working iMac with Mac OS sequoia. I made everything work with the original hd6970 until it stopped working today. Does anyone have a working setup like the one I am trying to achieve so I can copy it.

4130. 4150

 

[dorninko]

I checked again to see what might be going on with the monitor and found another interesting quirk: if you set the brightness all the way to zero (everywhere — not just by writing it to NVRAM, but also by turning the slider to 0 in the system itself), then put it to sleep and wake it up, the screen magically comes to life and keeps working fine until the brightness is increased. What could this be?

Still sounds very random to me and I am pretty sure that the LED backlight is the problem. Easies way to find out would be to use another display. I had a very similar situation (sudden black screen at random situations, sometimes every few minutes sometimes after a few days. I was able to get the backlight back every time by applying sleep/wake) but was lucky because I had anothe iMac at home. I swapped the displays and the problem moved with the display.

 

[Replanz]

Still sounds very random to me and I am pretty sure that the LED backlight is the problem. Easies way to find out would be to use another display. I had a very similar situation (sudden black screen at random situations, sometimes every few minutes sometimes after a few days. I was able to get the backlight back every time by applying sleep/wake) but was lucky because I had anothe iMac at home. I swapped the displays and the problem moved with the display.

Well, to be honest, I’m also starting to think it’s the backlight. How else can I diagnose this? I checked the inverter myself and it seems fine. The only thing that puzzled me is that the pin responsible for the backlight on the inverter shows the same value when I try to increase the brightness: around 0.1–0.2 V.
It’s just that I don’t have a second display to test this

 

[dorninko]

Well, to be honest, I’m also starting to think it’s the backlight. How else can I diagnose this? I checked the inverter myself and it seems fine. The only thing that puzzled me is that the pin responsible for the backlight on the inverter shows the same value when I try to increase the brightness: around 0.1–0.2 V.
It’s just that I don’t have a second display to test this

I don't know of any test to check for this specific problem but your problem is very very similar to what I experienced. And I went through the significant effort to replace the LED backlight strips (see

). The strips are not expensive, see e.g. https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005...t_main.60.3c005c5fWw1eeo&gatewayAdapt=glo2deu
With the new LEDs the problem was gone.

Another suggestion: there are a number of same iMacs available for 30-50 Euros (in my country) with defective graphic cards, you could buy one of those and swap the display...


Hope this helps

 

[trialer2018]

Dears looking to upgrade my XServe2,1 with a newer video card and I believe the best/fastest is the K2100M. Anyone have something running like this?

 

[StefanAM]

K4100M from Dell precision M6800. iMac2011 27".

Spoiler: GRML-FLASH log

root@192.168.10.119's password:


Linux grml 6.6.15-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.6.15-2 (2024-02-04) x86_64


Grml - Linux for geeks





root@grml ~ # lsblk


NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS


loop0 7:0 0 835.4M 1 loop /usr/lib/live/mount/rootfs/grml64-full.squashfs


/run/live/rootfs/grml64-full.squashfs


sda 8:0 1 0B 0 disk


sdb 8:16 1 29.3G 0 disk


└─sdb1 8:17 1 982M 0 part /usr/lib/live/mount/persistence/sdb1


/run/live/persistence/sdb1


sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom


root@grml ~ # cd /usr/lib/live/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video


root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # ./nvflash --save Backups/OldNVBios.rom


NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.792.0)


Copyright (C) 1993-2022, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.





Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)





Build GUID : Blank


Build Number : 0


IFR Subsystem ID : Blank


Subsystem Vendor ID : 0x0000


Subsystem ID : 0x0000


Version : Unavailable (Invalid) (Disabled Image)


Image Hash : N/A


Hierarchy ID : N/A


Build Date : Blank


Modification Date : Blank


UEFI Version : No Version Found or Out-dated ( )


UEFI Variant ID : No Variant ID Found ( No Variant ID Found )


UEFI Signer(s) : Unknown signer


XUSB-FW Version ID : N/A


XUSB-FW Build Time : N/A


InfoROM Version : No Version Found


InfoROM Backup : Not Present


License Placeholder : Not Present


GPU Mode : N/A


CEC OTA-signed Blob : Not Present





root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # ls


AMD Backups K4100M_AFR.rom K4100M_BR.rom K4100M_UGA.rom NVIDIA README.amdvbflash.txt README.nvidia.txt amdvbflash amdvbflash-4.71 nvflash nvflash_cert nvflash_linux


root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # ./nvflash --protectoff


NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.792.0)


Copyright (C) 1993-2022, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.





Setting EEPROM protection complete.


root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # ./nvflash -6 K4100M_AFR.rom


NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.792.0)


Copyright (C) 1993-2022, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.





Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...





Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)





NOTE: EEPROM does not contain board ID, skipping board ID check.





Current - Version:Unavailable (Invalid) ID:0000:0000:0000:0000





Replace with - Version:41.6B.32.37.AF ID:10DE:11B7:1028:15CD


NVIDIA Quadro K4100M by nikey22 (Normal Board)





Update display adapter firmware?


Press 'y' to confirm (any other key to abort): y


Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)





[==================================================] 100 %


Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)








A reboot is required for the update to take effect.





root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # ./nvflash --verify K4100M_AFR.rom


NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.792.0)


Copyright (C) 1993-2022, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.








NOTE: NO ROM INDEX HAS BEEN SPECIFIED. PERFORMING CHECKS FOR ALL ROM IMAGES AVAILABLE





========================== Image Index 0 ====================================


Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)





Error : Mismatch at offset 0x00000000.





Size differs between file(262144) and adapter firmware (0)





==================================================================================





ERROR: The image from the rom pack did not match the device rom image





2 root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # reboot

After this it is working like a dream. @Ausdauersportler is this normal?

 

[Benako444]

Hello! I have an iMac 12.2 27 inch mid 2011. I ordered an AMD Wx7100 video card from Aliexpress, but it turned out to be version 1.0, and my iMac won't start. Please help me! Is it possible to run my iMac with this video card?

 

[Alan_Hit]

Hey guys!

I'm struggling to find the correct VBIOS ROM file for my K2100M.

I'm upgrading an iMac 21.5" Mid-2011 (iMac12,1) and trying to flash an NVIDIA Quadro K2100M.

Does anyone have the modified VBIOS ROM file specifically built and confirmed working on the iMac12,1, which includes the necessary EFI/boot screen support? I would really appreciate the help and a secure link!

 

[imacker2011]

Hey guys!

I'm struggling to find the correct VBIOS ROM file for my K2100M.

I'm upgrading an iMac 21.5" Mid-2011 (iMac12,1) and trying to flash an NVIDIA Quadro K2100M.

Does anyone have the modified VBIOS ROM file specifically built and confirmed working on the iMac12,1, which includes the necessary EFI/boot screen support? I would really appreciate the help and a secure link!

It is included in Ausdauersportler's GRML-Flash Linux boot image:

GitHub - Ausdauersportler/GRML-FLASH: GRML LInux based flash tool with flashrom, amdvbflash, nvflash

GRML LInux based flash tool with flashrom, amdvbflash, nvflash - GitHub - Ausdauersportler/GRML-FLASH: GRML LInux based flash tool with flashrom, amdvbflash, nvflash

github.com

I used it successfully on one 21,5" and two 27" machines.

 

[imacker2011]

root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # ./nvflash --verify K4100M_AFR.rom
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.792.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2022, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

NOTE: NO ROM INDEX HAS BEEN SPECIFIED. PERFORMING CHECKS FOR ALL ROM IMAGES AVAILABLE

========================== Image Index 0 ====================================

Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)

Error : Mismatch at offset 0x00000000.

Size differs between file(262144) and adapter firmware (0)
========================================================================

ERROR: The image from the rom pack did not match the device rom image

2 root@grml ..ive/mount/persistence/sdb1/flash/video # reboot
[/SPOILER]
After this it is working like a dream. @Ausdauersportler is this normal?

In fact, I wanted to ask @Ausdauersportler the same question. I had the same verification error on three K2100m cards. Despite it, all cards are working nonetheless.

 

[Shnite]

Next step will be trying to write some kind of app to make TDM possible again in a more user friendly way than running terminal commands.

Did you write an app?
The TDM switch doesn't work for me.

• To turn off TDM:
  1. sudo ./smc -k MVHR -w 00
  2. wait 1 second
  3. sudo ./smc -k MVMR -w 02

sudo smc -k MVHR -w 00
sleep 1
sudo smc -k MVMR -w 02

And the brightness is always at maximum when using TDM, which puts a lot of strain on the power supply and my eyes.

 

[iPhone_se]

Hello! I have an iMac 12.2 27 inch mid 2011. I ordered an AMD Wx7100 video card from Aliexpress, but it turned out to be version 1.0, and my iMac won't start. Please help me! Is it possible to run my iMac with this video card?

See post a few pages back below. It looks like your V1.0 card is a NO-GO on 2011 iMac, it only works on 2009 and 2010 iMac. Graphics GPU upgrades on these early intel iMacs are pretty tricky to get working. You might have success if you can snag a V1.1 Dell Wx7100 GPU from eBay.

(do not ask where I found this)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/page-899?post=33979875#post-33979875