Problems with flashing r9 290

[spawnish]

Hi so i was having driver issues with a r9 powercolor 290 PCS+ a few days back when i contacted powercolor support , the representive told me to download ati flash utilities and to flash the card into the bios , sure ok there were 3 versions so i naturally chose the last one , i programed it all fine , restart windows and i get a black screen after the windows primary load.

Re-installed windows , all fine with , installed amd driver and it did the same thing again now i can only do stuff in safe mode the primary widndows won't even boot , please help

 

[Ja.KooLit]

try reflashing again. same vbios. it happen to me. but after reflashing, it all went well.

 

[spawnish]

Im scared to actually touch it .... i will try i can only run my computer now without any GPU drivers if i load any gpu driver it fails. i installed versions 1 and 3 both of them failed should i try 2 or just install 1 again as u said ?

Edit : How do i even do that ... it says it's alredy installed

 

[Ja.KooLit]

what is the rest of your computer specs? might be hardware conflicts. its wierd that it wont work if you install amd drivers. what drivers youre installing? is it the 14.12 omega or anything? try installing different amd driver. reseat your gpu.

how did you flash you gpu bios? windows or dos? where did you get the vbios? provided by powercolor or you download somewhere?

 

[Henkenator68NL]

1. You did make a backup off the original bios.. Did you?
2. You only flashed 1 bios chip (I hope)?

Easy way to get back: power down, flip the BIOS switch, reboot. Windows will state new gpu installed and should boot normally.

Go to settings, and uninstall Catalyst. Reboot. Google: DDU (display driver uninstaller). Run DDU as Admin, it asks permission to reboot and enter save mode, choose yes. Reboot, when in save mode allow DDU to start, choose completely uninstall all gpu drivers, thick: remove amd and or nvidia folder. Start cleaning process (with reboot afterwards).

Your system is now completely clean off any remaining and interfering graphic drivers. Reboot and install latest whql Catalyst version. Your gpu should work normally.

Flashing the BIOS and starting Windows, always implies to the OS that you installed a new GPU.

Best is first to flash the original Bios back to the GPU :remember to select the correct chip: 1 or 2 (normal / uber mode). Never flash both bioses!

Flashing the BIOS is not a problem and reflashing isn't either.

 

[spawnish]

Erm i litterally have no idea what you just told me , chips ? the hell i used atiflash since the powercolor support told me to , and flashed a vbios i don't know chips mips e.t.c..... and i alredy removed the drivers

Where is the bios switch

 

[FreedomEclipse]

In this situation, Id rather have a friend who has some technical knowledge help you out otherwise just RMA the card since the problems started happening after you flashed the card.

IMO support shouldnt have told you to flash the card themselves unless they already had a pre-packaged installer to do it and of course pointed you to the correct one for your card.

Ive accidently borked cards before with a bad bios flash and when i asked for the correct bios to be emailed to me, they straight up refused and told me to just RMA the card.

If you have no idea what youre doing, probably best idea to not mess with it further.

 

[spawnish]

Thank you . and yeah he only told me to flash it with the atiflash didn't give me the rom , i found it here on TPU i told him about the problems he hasn't answered since... that's one hella bad support ^^ Thank you and yeah i don't plan on messing with it any further it's just that from 2 weeks there are no technician shops open and i had to take some action im sitting here on a gaming pc with not GPU drivers

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Thank you . and yeah he only told me to flash it with the atiflash didn't give me the rom , i found it here on TPU i told him about the problems he hasn't answered since... that's one hella bad support ^^ Thank you and yeah i don't plan on messing with it any further it's just that from 2 weeks there are no technician shops open and i had to take some action im sitting here on a gaming pc with not GPU drivers

In that case i wouldnt of flashed it at all. This goes down as USER ERROR and might not be covered by warranty - Dont delete ANY of the emails from support and just apply for RMA and forward them the emails of your conversation with the other rep who told you to use ATi flash. The rep who told you to flash the card either didnt read your question properly, didnt understand your question and just threw up a simple answer - "yes ATiFlash can be used to update your GPU bios"

 

[spawnish]

Well i rly don't actually have an idea what RMA means i assume it's for warranty , the card is like 2 weeks old and yeah he kinda made me do it so i guess ti should be covered but can't this be fixed without doing that ? I bought it from a tech store im gonna go there tommorow to see if they can fix it ? I think it should be fixxable / reversable , my windows , my bios , my everything is running perfectly infact im writing this from my PC right now , only when i install the graphic driver windows won't load....

 

[FreedomEclipse]

they didnt 'make you do it' - Support didnt hold a gun to your head or threaten to kill your family if you didnt flash your card with another bios. You by your own hand did it. Powercolor did not give you the tools to wreck your card, they only provided you with the information.

---

Print out a copy of the emails and take it back to the shop along with your card. There is a 50/50 chance they might not accept your card back for a replacement. Its down to your retailers discretion now.

 

[spawnish]

why the hell would hte support bassically tell me to ruin my own card -.-

Excuse me im a retard he actually sent me an ROM of theyre own i did not even see there was an attachemnt if i use the ROM he sent me now will it fix it ?

 

[Henkenator68NL]

Erm i litterally have no idea what you just told me , chips ? the hell i used atiflash since the powercolor support told me to , and flashed a vbios i don't know chips mips e.t.c..... and i alredy removed the drivers

Where is the bios switch

here you are:

 

[spawnish]

that's gonna be hard since the card barely fits in my case anyways , i will try that tommorow at the tecnition..

I will have to take it out , but if i do the new .rom flash will it work ? the one powercolor sent me

 

[Henkenator68NL]

normally yes, did you flash the bios with a PCS branded version or did you use another brand? If so that might be the problem since you need a different atiflash command to flash a bios from 1 brand to anonther.

Your GPU -as all r9 290(x) cards comes with 2 bios chips and bios settings. If one is corrupted or bricked power down flip the switch and the stock bios chip is activated and you are good to go! By the way the bios switch is directly in plain sight no need to take it out of the case.

BUT PLEASE DO NOT FLIP THAT SWITCH AND FLASH THE OTHER BIOS

BEFORE FLASHING ALWAYS BACKUP THE ORIGINAL BIOS FILE ===> use GPU-Z to do that! SAVE THIS FILE DO NOT LOOSE THIS!

 

[spawnish]

i need to since the flip is located where the card is put in my motherboard , i have to take it out , flip and then take it back it and trust me , that monster is like 34CM it's gonna be hard

And yes with a version i got from here (TPU) if i flash back to another might it be fixed ? But if as u say there are 2 bios chips there should be no problem fixing this whole thing with the switch , no i never touched the 2nd bios chip

 

[spawnish]

normally yes, did you flash the bios with a PCS branded version or did you use another brand? If so that might be the problem since you need a different atiflash command to flash a bios from 1 brand to anonther.

Your GPU -as all r9 290(x) cards comes with 2 bios chips and bios settings. If one is corrupted or bricked power down flip the switch and the stock bios chip is activated and you are good to go! By the way the bios switch is directly in plain sight no need to take it out of the case.

BUT PLEASE DO NOT FLIP THAT SWITCH AND FLASH THE OTHER BIOS

BEFORE FLASHING ALWAYS BACKUP THE ORIGINAL BIOS FILE ===> use GPU-Z to do that! SAVE THIS FILE DO NOT LOOSE THIS!

Dude , i love you , i re-did the bios , now the problem is fixed ( the original problem) + the current one , Thank you !