Yikes!!! please no brick!!

[JayCan73]

bought a used card, had minor audio issues, audio was switching on and off every second causing minor static pops. Got ahead of myself and tried to correct issue that the card had the wrong bios installed, gigabyte windforce instead of club 3d, atiwinflash failed! Am I bricked? Is it possible to recover from this? It's a club 3d radeon 7950

 

[sneekypeet]

Does that HD7950 not have a dual bios switch on the side by the cross fire fingers?

 

[JayCan73]

Yes, the card has a bios switch. position 2 is supposed to be default, but it fails to work in either position. both windows and cpuz recognize the card Thanks for replying I'm kinda at a loss.

 

[MrGenius]

Define brick. Is the card working, or not? Or is it just failing to flash to another BIOS?

 

[JayCan73]

the card doesn't display anything over hdmi when I try to boot the computer with the 7950 as the default device over pcie in bios. gpuz shows the default bios version when the switch is in position 2.

 

[Solaris17]

your getting ahead of yourself champ. Did you shut off the PC switch it to position 1 and try to boot the machine again? Have you tried VGA/DVI in position 1 or just HDMI? Do you have a spare GPU?

 

[JayCan73]

After the failed flash I tried to reboot with the switched to the nonflashable position 2. Still no signal. Had to remove card to get back into bios with default intel graphics. Set default to intel in bios, rebooted. Then I shut the computer down again to reinstall the card. Idon't have anything but hdmi at the moment and have no spare gpu

 

[Solaris17]

ok can you boot the system on intel graphics with the AMD installed?

 

[JayCan73]

Running fine on integrated. Could ccc not recognize the card properly using a different bios than the previous one I was using, which failed to flash properly? bios 1 was what I used originally (windforce), tried and failed to flash to latest club 3d, then switched cards bios setting to default position, and computer would boot with no video signal. Hdmi did work previously.

 

[erocker]

You will need to flash the card with the "non-Windows" ATiFlash. Get the info about it here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/how-to-use-atiflash.57750/

When it comes time to do the actual flash, first type: -i This will list the adapters and give you the proper designation of the card (0, 1, 2, etc.)

Then (if the card is listed as "1" for example:

atiflash -f -p 1 "biosname.rom" (no quotes, use the name of your bios)

 

[Solaris17]

Here is everything you need and I wrote up instructions. Please make sure in your case your bios switch is in position 1.

 

[JayCan73]

thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it. I managed to get the bios to flash successfully!! That's good and all but it still doesn't output a signal over hdmi. It may be working on other inputs but it'll be tomorrow before I can get one. Also gpuz claims the card has 4294947258 mb of memory now. call me confused! I have the bios that the card came with, guess I could try reflashing with that one.

 

[Solaris17]

thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it. I managed to get the bios to flash successfully!! That's good and all but it still doesn't output a signal over hdmi. It may be working on other inputs but it'll be tomorrow before I can get one. Also gpuz claims the card has 4294947258 mb of memory now. call me confused! I have the bios that the card came with, guess I could try reflashing with that one.

If you managed to back up your bios then please attempt to flash it with the backup. I got the most compatible I thought would work. However nothing beats the one that DID work. If flashing with teh original doesn't help the situation I can assist you further. Also please understand the AMD/ATI drivers will NEED to be uninstalled before the card will work again (unless the original bios works) and GPU-Z will probably not give proper readings until that time.

 

[JayCan73]

BIG THANKS!! Solaris! Glad I backed up that bios. I'm back up and running! I'll endure the minor static, no biggie really. Freakin weird how a card essentially bricks on factory bios?? Your dos install worked flawlessly. I sir, shall drink many beers of relief and victory in your honor! And thanks to the rest of you as well. This thread can be marked as solved!

 

[Solaris17]

Glad we could help. As for HDMI. I really dont think its bios related if you google it their are alot of people that seem to have the issue with AMD cards. Here is one person that seemed to remedy it.
http://robsnotebook.com/hdmi-audio-causing-popping-noises-on-ati-graphics-card

Also like I said in your other thread. aIt could be anything from the TV to the cable itself to the card drivers or EMI related to any of these 3 things.

 

[JayCan73]

I think the audio is a weird initialization bug. I can see the audio signal turn on and off like clockwork on my amp. Sounds like a tiny clock in the room. Figured it might have been bios related because the card came out of a xfire setup with the card from which the working bios was from(gigabyte windforce). Thought it could have been an accidental bios flash issue. Thanks though, I might try to resolve the issue with a cheap sound card with an optical output. It's a really minor bug, just kinda bothered me like how dads vcr used to flash 12:00. Once I'm doing something with audio it's perfect.

 

[Solaris17]

Can you pull your card out and take a picture or read me all the numbers on the stickers on the back of the PCB? We can try and find you the right bios It is possible I just didnt get you the right one. Now that you know how to save it it shouldn't be too hard.

 

[JayCan73]

Already did, That's when I figured out I had a gigabyte bios. Locked factory bios bricks the card and the few other C3D ones I've tried do as well now that I can flash it. Only one that seems to work is it's old xfire partner?? Weird I know. It's not a big issue so long as it works. It's only as loud as my wristwatch. I only bought it because it was cheap. Wanted a new toy to play with. I mostly game on my PS4 anyway. Thanks though.

 

[purecain]

send an email to the support team. ask them why their own bios will not flash back to the card and 'how you boot up to a black screen' (but that's probably having the wrong driver loaded).

only thought only one bios could be flashed

good luck with it ticking though... contact support, you don't want to come home to find a fire has started because of your gpu.

 

[Steve-007UK]

My denon amp seems to flick between PCM and Digital when i use HDMI from my HD7970 but i don't seem to get any sound issues when i am playing a game or music or films.

Although sound seems to work fine i have resorted to using optical and no longer get the amp flicking between PCM/DIG

 

[JayCan73]

@Pure, I will try that, couldn't hurt. and that seems to be the same audio issue I'm having Animal. Wonder if it's correctable. I will see if I can find out.