Bricked 6950, can't reflash. Help needed!

[Alexx]

Guys, need help. I have a flashed MSI Radeon 6950 Twin Frozr II (not OC), and it worked well for at least 1 year, but suddenly crashed, causing black screen after windows loading every time I turned on my pc. I deleted all drivers with Driver Sweeper and this solved the black screen problem, but it appeared every time I tried to install drivers (the installing process was always finishing with warnings). GPU-Z showed me some strange numbers - 768 shaders, gpu clock 150 and 250 memory. So, I decided to reflash it and that's it - now it won't pass POST, no beeps from computer, nothing at all, just black screen. Tried flashing with 2 cards and different bioses, still no progress.
If anyone knows what can cause the problem or how to solve it, I will really appreciate your help. Thanks.

[Pehla]

iv'e been there!! sry to see u have issue with ur card.. but i belive that problem is not to known here.. many of us had problems when trying to flash the card..,but not with the flashed card that worked for year then stop working?!? what temps ur card was runing before it crash?? i mean under load?!? what method did u use for flashing??atiflash or winflash??

[itsakjt]

Originally Posted by Alexx

Guys, need help. I have a flashed MSI Radeon 6950 Twin Frozr II (not OC), and it worked well for at least 1 year, but suddenly crashed, causing black screen after windows loading every time I turned on my pc. I deleted all drivers with Driver Sweeper and this solved the black screen problem, but it appeared every time I tried to install drivers (the installing process was always finishing with warnings). GPU-Z showed me some strange numbers - 768 shaders, gpu clock 150 and 250 memory. So, I decided to reflash it and that's it - now it won't pass POST, no beeps from computer, nothing at all, just black screen. Tried flashing with 2 cards and different bioses, still no progress.
If anyone knows what can cause the problem or how to solve it, I will really appreciate your help. Thanks.

Ok, deal with the black screen problem later. Now deal with it so it can POST. Do you have a motherboard with onboard VGA? If yes then good. If no then contact someone who has one with a PCIE x16 slot also. Now first boot the computer with monitor connected to the onboard VGA and do not connect the graphics card yet. Go to the BIOS and set the Init primary display as IGFX or onboard. Look for the proper setting in the BIOS as it varies.



Now after you are done setting the primary device, turn off power and connect your GPU. Boot the machine. System should POST and display from onboard. After Windows starts, open RBE and flash the card to the stock BIOS. Then check operation of the card. Thank the post if it works because mine worked.

[Pehla]

i couldnt flash my card using rbe or winflash... i had to do it in CMD with atiflash
its prety simple,few comands and its done

[Alexx]

Originally Posted by Pehla

iv'e been there!! sry to see u have issue with ur card.. but i belive that problem is not to known here.. many of us had problems when trying to flash the card..,but not with the flashed card that worked for year then stop working?!? what temps ur card was runing before it crash?? i mean under load?!? what method did u use for flashing??atiflash or winflash??

I don't know if they could cause the problem, because the card itself was not overclocked and worked stable. I don't know the numbers, though.

[Alexx]

Originally Posted by itsakjt

Now after you are done setting the primary device, turn off power and connect your GPU. Boot the machine. System should POST and display from onboard. After Windows starts, open RBE and flash the card to the stock BIOS. Then check operation of the card. Thank the post if it works because mine worked.

I tried it with another PCI-E graphic card inserted and I was able to boot from the bootable usb drive. I got the message that flash progress was succesfull, but it didn't affect my graphic card, I mean, I still have the black screen and everything. RBE bios also does'nt seem to work. I'm totally confused.


Thank you for answering, guys.

[Law-II]

Hi

*Dose the MSI Radeon 6950 Twin Frozr II have a dual bios switch ?

*Do you have original or copy of the original vga bios ? [*if no dual bios switch]

*Do the fans still work on the vga card ?

download atiflash; use this version: here - http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...sh%203.99.html

create a bootable USB drive:
go here http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/browse.php?c=21
download - HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8 & Windows 98 System Files

click Primary Download unzip the files to a folder on your HDD; make sure your USB Memory stick is attached to your PC; open HP USB Disk

Storage Format Tool v2.1.8 ; select Creat a DOS startup disk/ select: using DOS system files located at: (these are the files you have just downloaded): browse to the files in win98boot; then start the process.

Next

copy atiflash onto the USB drive

Next

Set the motherboard bios to boot from usb *press F8 during boot; select from boot menu *if option is avalable; this should boot to a win98 dos prompt

type at command prompt: atiflash -i 0 [see if information about adapter is at this address]

[Note: 0 is the primary card PCIe slot one & 1 is the secondary PCIe slot two] [onboard vga = 0 & vga card = 1]

*What information about the adapter is shown ?

Note: if you get a chance next time you are logged in; go to UserCP and fill in system specs

atb (all the best)

Law-II

[Alexx]

Law-II, I did all the steps that you wrote. I used different versions of atiwinflash, including 3.99, I created bootable usb drive with exactly same program and no luck.
about your questions:
1) No dual-bios switch
2)No, I don't. The problem is that the first time I flashed it, it was around a year ago, so, by now I lost it. I tried to extract original bios through RBE, but it doesn't work
3)Yes, videocard has power, the fans are spinning.

[Alexx]

Maybe someone has an original bios to share?

[jmcslob]

It would be one of these http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/i...ace=&memSize=0
If it was the 810mhz verion you got 2 bios to choose from....If it was the 850 you 3 to choose from.

[GSG-9]

If you can't unbrick it I am trying to move 69x0's in my for sale thread They are first gen, with dual bios.

Originally Posted by jmcslob

It would be one of these http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/i...ace=&memSize=0
If it was the 810mhz verion you got 2 bios to choose from....If it was the 850 you 3 to choose from.

I imagine he can use the 810Mhz to be safe.

[Law-II]

Hi

Originally Posted by Law-II

atiflash -i 0

*What information about the adapter was shown any or nothing?

To help trouble shoot.: When you first flashed the vga card what was it for ? increase core and mem / unlock shaders / stability or other

*Having to asume you have removed the vga card and inspected it for physical damage / burn or scorch marks maybe other

.................................................. ....

Thank you for answering these questions;
1. Thank you re dual-bios

2. For future reference this is a way of extracting vga bios I use

Download GPU-Z here - http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/
Example:


*Save to file
Make a copy of the extracted vga bios to modify [*Keep a backup in a safe place*]

3. power and fans spinning is a good sign, thanks

there are the bios files that have been offered up in this thread by jmcslob and mentioned by GSG-9
Note: when checking the the www the 810Mhz vga bios was included with the OC version
http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R6950...ozr-II-OC.html

May be this one - http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/8...48.101123.html
for http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R6950-Twin-Frozr-II.html

- Use the bootable USB

- Add Atiflash 3.99 and 6950 [#name of bios#].bin to the usb flash drives root directory

**Uninstall any AMD drivers for the vga card before flashing**

[ For advanced driver removal look here - http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=11 ]

Set the motherboard bios to boot from usb *press F8 during boot; select from boot menu *if option is avalable; this should boot to a win98 dos prompt

Type at the dos prompt - dir to veiw the content of the flash drive

Type at the dos prompt; atiflash -ai 0 [command to see if adapter is at this address and is recognised and advanced information (?)

Type at the dos prompt; atiflash -unlockrom 0 to unlock the gpu in adapter 0 [Note: 0 is the primary card PCIe slot one & 1 is the secondary PCIe slot two][*may be required]

Type at the dos prompt; atiflash -f -p 0 [#name of bios#].bin

[Note: 0 is the primary card PCIe slot one & 1 is the secondary PCIe slot two][*onboard vga = 0 if recovering from bad flash]

reboot once finished and remove the flash drive

reinstall AMD Catalyst Drivers

Note for list of atiflash command lines look here - http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=57750 thanks go out to CrackerJack

atb

Law-II

[Aquinus]

You can't flash just any 6950 BIOS to the GPU, you need to pick one that is very similar because not all video cards use the same kind of video memory and could use different timings. Flashing the video BIOS should always be considered a last resort. I wish you asked before you did any flashing.

[Alexx]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

You can't flash just any 6950 BIOS to the GPU, you need to pick one that is very similar because not all video cards use the same kind of video memory and could use different timings. Flashing the video BIOS should always be considered a last resort. I wish you asked before you did any flashing.

I possibly have done everything to resurrect it before flashing. What if I'll try to contact MSI and ask them if they can provide me original original bios?

[Law-II]

Originally Posted by Alexx

I possibly have done everything to resurrect it before flashing. What if I'll try to contact MSI and ask them if they can provide me original original bios?

Hi

May be; however [*most likley] MSI will say that the warranty agreement has been broken, as the card has been flashed with a non-proprietary vga bios

Originally Posted by Law-II

Type at the dos prompt; atiflash -ai 0

What did the card say ?

Note: If you have attempted all instructions to the letter from previous mail; & card still shows black screen when drivers are loaded *May be card has failed.

nb: test the card in another system/PC

atb

Law-II

[tokyoduong]

You can call MSI for the old bios. It's worth a try you really don't have anything to lose.

Especially with non reference boards, taking bios from another card hardly ever work.

If the flash has worked for a long time and now doesn't then it probably wasn't the bios. Did you try cleaning the board first? Dust and metallic particles can cause a lot of boards to malfunction. Check the board for bad solder, cracks and such.

BTW GPU clock at 150, 250 memory and 768 shaders sounds like idle state.

Your PCIE may also have failed. It could also be your PSU. There's only one way to really know. Start swapping parts or you are really good with a volt meter and know your board that well.

[Aquinus]

If it doesn't work in another machine I would just try to RMA it. Just explain to them exactly what happened. In the past I've had good experiences with MSI support. In the past they even mailed me a replacement BIOS chip free of charge (even shipping!) and when that failed they where more than happy to RMA the board that I bricked and I told them how it happened.

So unless they've become more strict and their support has gone down the drain, they should accomodate you, but there is something you should take away from this.

Do not flash a GPU unless you're completely out of options and no one can offer you a better suggestion.

I can't emphasize this enough. I see threads regularly about someone who bricked their GPU because they flashed it. You're better off just calling support and not flashing it if something is wrong with it. If there is a problem with the BIOS, I bet you most vendors will take the card for RMA. You don't need to do it yourself, and even with this all said, I still think MSI will help you out if it's still under warranty.

[jmcslob]

I had a problem similar to this with my 6950...
I went from an AMD AM3+ board with my 6950 flashed to a 6970 which works just great on that board and still does as a 6970 but when I tried to put it in this build which is an MSI Z77A-G45 all I got was a black screen...My 6950 is reference so for me a switch flip reboot worked fine...I then attempted to reflash to a 6970 and I got a black screen again...So I Flashed to a BIOS from this card where someone unlocked just the shaders and it worked....I'm just lucky that I have a switch....but I'm guessing if you know what the original timings are you can flash it back to a matching bios...if none of those work RMA if still under warranty and act dumb....

[Alexx]

Guys, thank you for all the answers. I've tried 2 BIOSes from jmcslob's link, tomorrow I'll try the third one and also I'll call MSI support if i'll fail with reflashing. In any case, I'll let you know how's it going.
Law-II, first time I flashed, it was on the next day after receiving the card. Actually I've bought it just because I knew it was possible to unlock shaders, thus saving some $. That was the reason. GPU-Z showed that I made everything right and the card was unlocked. I overclocked it to standard maximum of 840Mhz, because I knew that the TWIN FROZR cooling system could easily handle that.
And, as I told you, the card was working on the very low frequencies with no drivers, but at least it worked. After trying to install the drivers, it was showing me black screen all the time after the loading of the windows. Then it went total black screen and no POST pass after I installed wrong bios on it (from Sapphire).

[Pehla]

i know..,that was the same reason i flashed my card..i would never flash it to get biger clocks!if i want biger clocks i could allways use afterburner...,witch i did!! i just dont know why u got bleck screen after a year...,did u try ur card in other pc?? maybe other hardware fail!!

[GSG-9]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

Do not flash a GPU unless you're completely out of options and no one can offer you a better suggestion.

I disagree with you, I have been flashing cards since I bought a 9800 Pro back in the day. It is part of the culture of pc gaming, overclocking and building a custom computer. There have always been risks with flashing, if anything features like dual bios are more prevalent on todays hardware, making flashing safer for new users than ever. Also RBE? Jesus, That would have been much better than a bin file in 2003.

TL;DR Saying people should not flash is like telling people not to play sports because they could get hurt.

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by GSG-9

I disagree with you, I have been flashing cards since I bought a 9800 Pro back in the day. It is part of the culture of pc gaming, overclocking and building a custom computer. There have always been risks with flashing, if anything features like dual bios are more prevalent on todays hardware, making flashing safer for new users than ever. Also RBE? Jesus, That would have been much better than a bin file in 2003.

TL;DR Saying people should not flash is like telling people not to play sports because they could get hurt.

Unless you're planning on putting GPUs on water or doing some extreme overclocking there is no reason to do it. Then you get people who don't know what they're doing and they brick their card. The amount of gain by flashing your BIOS is usually minimal under normal conditions and someone who does extreme overclocking isn't a novice who is trying to "fix" his video card.

To expand on your sports analogy, children who don't know better won't know a sport is dangerous going into it. Someone (your average user,) flashing their GPU is no different until you learn or make the mistake. It is also plenty easy to shoot yourself in the foot by flashing the wrong BIOS.

[GSG-9]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

Unless you're planning on putting GPUs on water or doing some extreme overclocking there is no reason to do it. Then you get people who don't know what they're doing and they brick their card. The amount of gain by flashing your BIOS is usually minimal under normal conditions and someone who does extreme overclocking isn't a novice who is trying to "fix" his video card.

To expand on your sports analogy, children who don't know better won't know a sport is dangerous going into it. Someone (your average user,) flashing their GPU is no different until you learn or make the mistake. It is also plenty easy to shoot yourself in the foot by flashing the wrong BIOS.

I agree with you on all those points, but I still don't agree with the original statement. There is plenty of room for bios modding in the computer world. It just needs rules (like don't use a different bios, and if you do, be very very sure your card has at least the same pcb, and probably the same ram [or faster].) like anything else.

[Alexx]

Alright, guys, I'm really sorry for not showing up for so long in this thread. Now I'm back but the problem remains. I flashed my card once again with a suggested bios from jmcslob, and it was the last(third) bios from that link that I've tried. The card still doesn't work and I do have really strange numbers in gpu-z.

Anyone had numbers like this? BTW I had exactly same numbers with my previous bios

[Law-II]

Hi

Originally Posted by Alexx

Anyone had numbers like this? BTW I had exactly same numbers with my previous bios

-When VGA Drivers; where *not removed before flashing

-When Vbios is corrupted / failed

Example here

atb

Law-II