Bricked HD4870 after a wrong BIOS flash

[Zarathoustra]

Hi guys. ^^

I accidentally flashed my Powercolor HD 4870 1GB PCS+ (specs here) with a wrong bios and I am unable to unbrick it alone. So, I decided to create an account on TPU to explain my problem and find a way to solve it.

Let's start...

Since I bought my HD 4870 (many years ago) I have issues with 2D/3D mode when I'm playing games. Last week, I found the thread below on TPU forum : The 4870 "2D Low", GPU voltage/Memory clock rate Bios Thread.

I corrected myself..6.77A can only be achieved @ 550/200/1.083 and you cannot do that without the card flickering from 2d to 3d so I use Ati tray tool..one flicker.

The bios that I am offering it's just a little bit better that the stock..and it's an all in one..

2D @ 550/900/1.083
3D @ 750/900/1.263=same as stock
and I have also included a better fan profile that keeps the card cool and yes I have used the 105 variant that you are referring as stock2.

I hope this clarifies any missunderstanding.

I do stand behind it 100% and proudly says..that up to this date is the best Powerplay (and overall) bios available for 4870 cards.

This is for reference 4870s only. None reference video cards will not work with this bios.

I read it and decided to flash my vbios. I wasn't sure about what is a "reference video card" but I thought mine was... but it wasn't. XD

I did a backup of the original bios with GPU-z (RV770.rom), flashed my card with the 1083.bin file gave by Fastmix (atiflash -f -p 0 1083.bin) and taste my pleasure to have a black screen after reboot. :-/

Then, I went to a store, bought a low-cost pcie card and followed procedures to recover my "dead HD4870".

Nothing worked... neither wiring the pin 1 to pin 8 on Pm25LV010 chip as it is explained in this thread : Accidentally flashed my 5870 with a modified 6950 BIOS...recovery possible?

But... things are quite different for me than other "flash fail" cases :

1) When I boot with a DOS startup disk in DOS mode, my "dead HD4870" is found by atiflash -i. This is true with or without wiring the 1-8 pins on bios chip. Then, I can flash it with atiflash -f -p <adapter_num> RV770.rom (only if I remove the cable between pin 1 and 8, of course ^^)... and I did it. After reboot, windows does NOT recognize my "dead HD4870", same goes for atiwinflash and GPU-z...

2) There is some kind of "pattern" when i boot with "dead HD4870" plugged + DOS startup disk ("this is my design" as Will Graham says ^^) : I noticed that, after the GPU fan goes crazy, my HD4870 has 25 seconds "to live".

00:00 > Power on
00:18 > DOS prompt appears (atiflash can see/flash the presumed to be "dead" HD48710, it works)
00:50 > GPU fan speeds up suddenly to 100% but atiflash can still see "dead HD4870"
01:18 > atiflash -i gives me "adapter not found" ! With or without wiring the 1-8 pins, HD48710 is gone... wtf is this ? The "ninja HD4870" ! XD

Anyway, the atiflash -f -p x ... works fine while the "dead HD4870" is still "alive" and i did it several time.

Spoiler: Here is the log file generated by atiflash after my last flashing operation

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------ ATIFLASH v4.17 Log File ------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sat May 30 15:59:05 2015
Command Operation without options: -p 1 RV770.rom

Old SSID: 2267
New SSID: 2267
Old P/N: 113-BA07XXXX
New P/N: 113-BA07XXXX
Old DeviceID: 9440
New DeviceID: 9440
Old Product Name: RV770XT 1GB 86A21CCA.QGH

New Product Name: RV770XT 1GB 86A21CCA.QGH

Old BIOS Version: 011.013.000.002.000000
New BIOS Version: 011.013.000.002.000000
Flash type: PM25LV010
20000/20000h bytes programmed
20000/20000h bytes verified

Restart System To Complete VBIOS Update.

When i reboot to complete vbios update, the GPU fan's still runing like Usain Bolt and vbios cannot be fully updated (i guess). My computer needs something like one minute from POST message to open Windows 7. So, as you can imagine, it's a "time trial" between me and the machine before the ninja HD4870 fades away... until now, the machine wins.

I don't know why my card is automaticly "shuting down", do you have any idea to fix this ?

Regards. Thanks in advance

PS : I'm not fluent in english and I hope that you were not hurt by the exotic expressions contained in my message.

Edit > Here is my config :
- asus P5Q-E rev 1.01G
- intel Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3,16 Ghz
- 2X2048-8500C5D Corsair DDR ver 1.1

 

[Zarathoustra]

Hi.

I have some news.

I let the "dead card" in PEG slot and boot on windows. The system recognized my card and installed the 4800 series driver. So, I went on GPU-z and here is what it gaves me :

Spoiler: Graphic card tab

Here, the BIOS version is 113AD-AD0200 in GPU-z (HD 6770 ?).... but, the new BIOS installed by atiflash (the log file is in my previous message) is 113-BA07XXXX...

Spoiler: Sensors tab

The temperature shows on GPU-z looks very funny : temperature of the GPU when loaded @100% : -1°C ! ^^

The device manager properties tab of the driver says that the device is working properly. But atiflash -i can't find my "dead card" in command prompt. LoooooooooL XD

Plus, when power on my computer with the "dead card" only (and no secondary graphics) I can see the "American Megatrends" logo (and the 1st messages) during something like 3 seconds. Some red dots shows off randomly on the screen and then it goes black... looking for video signal.

Weird isn't it ?

 

[Zarathoustra]

Hi everyone. (dixit the guy who's alone in "his" thread") XD

I found a way to keep the "dead" card enabled !

And now, I can use atiflash on windows and find/flash my precious ATI 4870. To do so, I changed some settings in my BIOS :
- PCIE Frequency : from [Auto] to [101]
- PCIE Spread Spectrum : from [Auto] to [Disabled]

I also have configured CPU and DDR settings (including voltage) manually.

Here is my last GPU-z screenshot :

Spoiler: Graphic Tab

Spoiler: Sensor Tab

It's better than before, right ? ... < no answer > ... I'm so alone down here. :'(

Windows is able to recognize the "not-so-dead" card and install drivers but...

i still can't use it as primary display device. When I do so, I can see "American Megatrends" logo for 2 seconds before the GPU fan goes crazy and the screen becomes black. Then, nothing happens.

I'm stuck here. Any help would be awsome ! ^^

 

[SKBARON]

@Law-II is the man when it comes to flashing (unbricking cards), maybe he can help you.

 

[MrGenius]

You're doing it wrong. Read this.

 

[Zarathoustra]

I'm happy to have some help ! Thank you for your answers.

@Law-II is the man when it comes to flashing (unbricking cards), maybe he can help you.

Are you suggesting that I should send a PM to @Law-II ? ^^

You're doing it wrong. Read this.

I think I'm missing something but I don't know what. Here is what I did after I read the thread "AMD/ATI Flashing Guide" :
1. shutdown the computer
2. remove : power wire, CMOS battery, dead card (PCIE x16 slot)
3. add the secondary card in 1st PCI x8 slot
4. plug power wire
5. start the PC and change primary disk + vga boot order
6. save BIOS settings and shutdown PC
7. Put the dead card back into PCIE x16 slot and start PC till DOS prompt
8. atiflash -i
9. atiflash -unlockrom 0
10. atiflash -f -p 0 4870.bin (given in this thread : How to recover ATI Radeon HD 4870 from bad BIOS flash).
11. restart computer on windows and wait till driver installation+reboot
12. shutdown computer, re-add the CMOS battery
13. power on, change primary vga boot order (PEG 1st) and save the bios.
14. restart, hope, and.... fail !

I just don't understand what's happening. Do you see something that could explain ?

 

[patrico]

hmm am i missing something,, but how do you expect bios to save without a battery? hmm....

law-II will get a bump from being mentioned, hope you get it fixed mate

 

[Zarathoustra]

Hi

hmm am i missing something, but how do you expect bios to save without a battery? hmm....

While the power cable is plugged and "powered", settings are saved. But, at the 1st power cut, everything is lost.

law-II will get a bump from being mentioned, hope you get it fixed mate

Thanks, I hope too.

 

[Frogger]

having read you thread I might able to help. With your dead card in slot 1 '0' & your working card in slot 2 '1' with your monitor attached to the working card and that card as your boot output. Can you "see" the dead card in Dos with atiflash???
the bios in your post #6 is "ATOMBIOSBK-ATI VER011.003.000.001.029254 B3B50701"
the right bios for your card is
"RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9ATOMBIOSBK-ATI VER011.013.000.002.000000"

It can be found here http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/44157/powercolor-hd4870-1024-090224.html

 

[Zarathoustra]

Hello Frogger.

With your dead card in slot 1 '0' & your working card in slot 2 '1' with your monitor attached to the working card and that card as your boot output. Can you "see" the dead card in Dos with atiflash???

Now I can, yes. I can see it in DOS prompt on Windows and in DOS mode.

the bios in your post #6 is "ATOMBIOSBK-ATI VER011.003.000.001.029254 B3B50701"
the right bios for your card is
"RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9ATOMBIOSBK-ATI VER011.013.000.002.000000"

All right, I will try to flash my dead card with it. I'll be right back... ^^

EDIT : I have exactly the same issue with this one. ^^ When I restart with slot 0 card (the dead one), the display works 2 or 3 seconds before standby (or something like that). I unplug the usb key but "Num lock" led stays off... so is HDD led : Windows isn't booting, it's like my computer was freezed.

But, a good thing is, there was no red spots on the screen. This Bios looks better, thank you for that. ^^

Spoiler: graphic tab in GPU-z

 

[Frogger]

From the looks of your gpuz shot it would seem that the ROM chip is not being totally erased before the reprogram. This can be, fixed.. I' m @ work on the tablet but will post the way to do this later today from home.

 

[Zarathoustra]

From the looks of your gpuz shot it would seem that the ROM chip is not being totally erased before the reprogram. This can be, fixed.. I' m @ work on the tablet but will post the way to do this later today from home.

Nice.

I played a litlle bit with aiflash in DOS mode and you should have a look at this :

Command Operation without options: -ai 0

Adapter 0 (BN=01, DN=00, PCIID=94401002, SSID=22671787)
Asic Family : RV770/M98
Flash Type : PM25LV010 (128 KB)
Product Name : RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9
Bios Config File : Test.bin
Bios P/N : 113-BA07XXXX
Bios Version : 011.013.000.002.000000
Bios Date : 02/24/09 21:07
ROM Image Type : Legacy Image
ROM Image Details :
Image[0]: Size(64000 Bytes), Type(Legacy Image)

So I re-flash with this command :
atiflash -f -fa -fm -fs -fp -p 0 newbios.rom

I'm back now on windows and I use "atiflash -ai 0" in a command prompt.

Adapter 0 (BN=01, DN=00, FN=00, PCIID=00001002, SSID=00002267)
Asic Family : RV770/M98
Flash Type : PM25LV010 (128 KB)
Product Name is : RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9

Bios Config File: Test.bin
Bios P/N is : 113-BA07XXXX
Bios Version : 011.013.000.002.000000
Bios Date is : 02/24/09 21:07
Image 1 -- Offset 0x0
=======================
ROM header contents:
Signature 0xAA55
PCIR offset 0x0260
PCI Data Structure
Signature PCIR
Vendor ID 0x1002
Device ID 0x9440
PCI Revision 0x00
Image size 0xFA00
Code revision 0x0B0D
Indicator 0x80 (last image)
Code type 0x00 (PCAT Image)
Legacy BIOS File Name Test.bin
Legacy BIOS Part Number 113-BA07XXXX
Legacy BIOS Build Number 84551
Legacy BIOS Change List 434132
Binary BIOS_IDTF 0x8E7A25C0
ByteCheckSum 0

Nothing's changed XD

OMG ! OMG ! OMFG !!!

While I am typing this message, the GPU fan of the dead card wakes up ... and the card fades away... again !

EDIT : It's fine, I can still see my dead GPU in DOS mode. ^^

PS : red dots are back

 

[Frogger]

Let's fix this card!! As you've learned Atiflash has some issues with reprograming the onboard eeprom of the cards. For some reason Atiflash decides not to write some Bits even thought it confirms
20000/20000h bytes programmed
20000/20000h bytes verified
as a result you end up with an eeprom bios that almost works note memory size \ bandwidth \ Gpu clock \memory clk in post # 10. To fix this we need to erase the chip totally . You already have your usb dos boot stix with atiflash, the powercolor bios on it you need to add the empty.rom found in this post unzip it to your boot usb.
Now remove the 'dead' card from the rig & boot to windowS from your working card uninstall your ati drivers I like to use DDU info & download using the 'clean& shutdown' option.
Reinstall your 'dead' card to slot 1 '0' of your motherboard. Boot for your usb sitx with your good card into Dos using the "-ia 0 " switch confirm your card location.
NOW using " atiflash -f -p 0 empty.rom " flash the empty rom to the card DO NOT REBOOT AT THE COMPLEATION OF THE FLASH REBOOTING WILL KILL THE CARD FOR SURE!!
Now reflash using " atiflash -f -p biosname.rom" with your powercolor bios you should get your
20000/20000h bytes programmed
20000/20000h bytes verified
at the end of each flash. If all is good shut down your rig remove the 'good' card that you have been booting from hook your monitor back up to the 4870 say a prayer & boot your machine install the right driver for your card check with GPU-z.
GOOD LUCK

 

[MrGenius]

Now reflash using " atiflash -f -p biosname.rom" with your powercolor bios

"atiflash -f -p 0 biosname.rom"

 

[Zarathoustra]

First, a big thanks for your help. ^^

Then, here is what i did :

1) remove the 'dead' card from the rig
2) reboot in safe mode in order to use DDU and uninstall drivers (clean& shutdown option)
3) reinstall the 'dead' card to slot 1 '0' (PCIE 16x).
4) boot for my usb sitx with the good card into Dos using the "-ia 0 " switch : atiflash -ai 0 -log

Adapter 0 (BN=01, DN=00, PCIID=94401002, SSID=22671787)
Asic Family : RV770/M98
Flash Type : PM25LV010 (128 KB)
Product Name : RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9

Bios Config File : Test.bin
Bios P/N : 113-BA07XXXX
Bios Version : 011.013.000.002.000000
Bios Date : 02/24/09 21:07
ROM Image Type : Legacy Image
ROM Image Details :
Image[0]: Size(64000 Bytes), Type(Legacy Image)

5) atiflash -f -p 0 empty.rom -logappend

Command Operation without options: -p 0 empty.rom
Old DeviceID: 9440
New DeviceID: 0
Old Product Name: RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9

New Product Name:
Old BIOS Version: 011.013.000.002.000000
New BIOS Version:
Flash type: PM25LV010
20000/20000h bytes programmed
20000/20000h bytes verified

Restart System To Complete VBIOS Update.

6) atiflash -ai 0 -logappend

Adapter 0 (BN=01, DN=00, PCIID=94401002, SSID=22671787)
Asic Family : RV770/M98
Flash Type : PM25LV010 (128 KB)
No VBIOS

7) atiflash -f -p 0 newbios.rom -logappend

Old DeviceID: 9440
New DeviceID: 9440
Old Product Name:
New Product Name: RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9

Old BIOS Version:
New BIOS Version: 011.013.000.002.000000
Flash type: PM25LV010
20000/20000h bytes programmed
20000/20000h bytes verified

Restart System To Complete VBIOS Update.

8) shutdown and remove the good card (PCI 8x slot)

9) hooking 4870, say a prayer and...

Spoiler: Click here to see what happened

Adapter 0 (BN=01, DN=00, FN=00, PCIID=00001002, SSID=00002267)
Asic Family : RV770/M98
Flash Type : PM25LV010 (128 KB)
Product Name is : RV770XT 1GB 86225CCA.QGH9

Bios Config File: Test.bin
Bios P/N is : 113-BA07XXXX
Bios Version : 011.013.000.002.000000
Bios Date is : 02/24/09 21:07
Image 1 -- Offset 0x0
=======================
ROM header contents:
Signature 0xAA55
PCIR offset 0x0260
PCI Data Structure
Signature PCIR
Vendor ID 0x1002
Device ID 0x9440
PCI Revision 0x00
Image size 0xFA00
Code revision 0x0B0D
Indicator 0x80 (last image)
Code type 0x00 (PCAT Image)
Legacy BIOS File Name Test.bin
Legacy BIOS Part Number 113-BA07XXXX
Legacy BIOS Build Number 84551
Legacy BIOS Change List 434132
Binary BIOS_IDTF 0x8E7A25C0
ByteCheckSum 0

It's still the same thing as before. I took a picture of the screen I get before standby (sorry for the bad quality of the picture) : red dots are real

Spoiler: With dead card only

Don't you think the problem could comes from the weird bios config file => "Test.bin" ?

 

[Frogger]

Not good ! Just to confirm you see the first post screen, with red dots, fan on vid card spins 100%, screen goes blank vid card shuts down?? But computer still running?
IF SO card might be damaged from overheating or the TIM on the core might need to be removed & reinstalled. I would remove the cards heatsink & PUT on some new TIM. Hope that,s all it is BUT OVERHEATING is a killer of cards.

Looking @ the other power color bios the 'TEST.BIN has only 1edit that should not effect the cards performance to the degree you are seeing

 

[Zarathoustra]

Not good ! Just to confirm you see the first post screen, with red dots, fan on vid card spins 100%,

Yes.

screen goes blank vid card shuts down??

yes/no. Screen goes blank but fan on vid card still spins @ 100%.

But computer still running?"

and computer still running, and boot on windows as if everything was ok.

IF SO card might be damaged from overheating or the TIM on the core might need to be removed & reinstalled. I would remove the cards heatsink & PUT on some new TIM. Hope that,s all it is BUT OVERHEATING is a killer of cards."

Hehe... I had the same thought 2 days ago. So I already removed heatsink and old TIM to put some new.

Looking @ the other power color bios the 'TEST.BIN has only 1edit that should not effect the cards performance to the degree you are seeing

Ok so the explaination must be anywhere else. =)

 

[Frogger]

No video output. Fan 100%. Windows running in background.You can keep trying to get this card back up BUT you most likely would'nt have any luck Time for a new card. Good Luck

 

[OneMoar]

card is toast
a 4870 isn't worth messing with replace it
odds are you botched reinstalling the cooler and damaged the core

 

[Solaris17]

with artifacts in the bios like that im going to have to say it is GPU damage. the card would have been unbricked a long time ago when the first bios flash worked.

 

[OneMoar]

with artifacts in the bios like that im going to have to say it is GPU damage. the card would have been unbricked a long time ago when the first bios flash worked.

either that or hes spilled paste someware

 

[Zarathoustra]

What a bad news.

Anyway, thank you for your help and support.

EDIT > Actually I was wrong on something : the GPU fan is not running at 100% but rather something like 60%