Need Help with flashing ATI Powercolor HD4870 1GB

[So Solid Jedi]

Hi, i have a problem with my Powercolor HD4870 1GB, i get screen flicker when viewing any sort of videos or some web pages which have video adverts etc. It is so annoying and has bugged me ever since i got the card.
My setup is
Asus Striker Extreme Motherboard
Q6600 Intel Pentium Quad Core Processor
ATI Powercolor Radeon 4870 1GB
Windows 7 x64

I did contact Powercolor a while back regarding this flickering issue, they sent me winflash in an email and a new rev bios to install. I tried to use it in windows, had no problems running the program and managed to do a dump of my old bios with no problems, then i tried to flash the new bios but if i recall it gave me something about an SubsystemsID mismatch which i now know is common but at the time i hadnt seen this site.

I contacted Powercolor again, this time they told me id have to do it dos with another program, ATIFlash, so i went and made a dos statup floppy disc and shoved the program and the new bios onto it.
Only recently have i got around to flashing it the other day, immediately i had problems straight after flashing, i noticed right away that the fan speed was running like on full and sounded so noisy which i wasnt use to, but also the display was breaking up very badly, not only in windows (which i was putting down to wrong drivers now being installed) but also in mobo's bios screen as well? It kept giving me a BSOD in windows in normal mode but was ok in Safe mode, so anyway to cut a long story short, cos of the screen break up in bios i decided to reflash my old bios, it went fine i am now back to before.

I would still like to update to newer bios if it fixes the Screen flicker problem? what do any of you guys suggest? i am toying with idea of flashing 1 of the bioses on this site but dont know which one to go for? can anyone help?

Also can someone take a look at my original bios and the bios Powercolor sent me and let me know what was the cause of the problem? i'll upload both bioses

 

[So Solid Jedi]

Here's my Original backed up bios

 

[So Solid Jedi]

and here's the new bios Powercolor sent me in an email

 

[So Solid Jedi]

Can anyone help?

 

[So Solid Jedi]

Anyone got any ideas why the new bios from Powercolor screwed up my picture?

 

[Black_Lion]

I guess you are using dualscreen, right? If so (or even if not), download RBE, and edit the new bios (i will explain below how to). There is a problem in this cards (at least on my HD5870 there is when i overclock, its just like you described) that if the memory clock is different from power state to power state it will cause flicker.

But first of, before starting editing your bios, try this simple step and see if it is fixed: Go to Catalyst Center, click on Performance and make sure is disabled. After disabling it, see if you still experience too much flicker (its normal if it blinks when the video starts, but not if it keeps flickering while the video is playing).

If that didn't worked, my best advice is, in RBE change the RAM (Mhz) setting in Clock Info 00 in order to make them all use the same clock.

For example, your cards memory runs at 925 Mhz, you should put 925 in the field i said above. Then save the bios and flash it using ATIFlash. Also, one more time, make sure that AMD Overdrive in Catalyst Center is disabled.

Hope this helps

 

[So Solid Jedi]

Wow, i just did this

But first of, before starting editing your bios, try this simple step and see if it is fixed: Go to Catalyst Center, click on Performance and make sure is disabled. After disabling it, see if you still experience too much flicker (its normal if it blinks when the video starts, but not if it keeps flickering while the video is playing)

and its amazing what a difference it makes? not even a single flicker? how come AMD overdrive causes the card to spaz out?

 

[Black_Lion]

Simple. It probably is forcing the 3D memory clock to something different then the idle one, and causes that erratic behavior. Glad it worked

 

[So Solid Jedi]

So what is the point of AMD Overdrive? Lol, sounds like a performance booster yet it has opposite effect. Thankyou for drawing my attention to this option, i can now hapily watch my mkv's and you tube video's without that god awful judder. +rep also how come its enabled by default if it has compatible issues?

 

[Black_Lion]

It's suppose to be used to overclock the card, but in the latest revisions it has some pretty bad bugs, thats why i always disable it, and to do some overclocking, i use "real" software, like MSI Afterburn :9

 

[So Solid Jedi]

Ok, just an update, the dissabling the overdrive didnt seem to work for me 100% i was still getting screen judder/flicker when viewing videos, so i had a look at the temp readings in Catalyst Control Center and found that the card was running as hot as 79'C the Fan speed was on automatic, so i decided to turn manual fan control to ON and set it from 19% reading i was getting to 35% which is still reasonably quiet and it seems to have improved things, temp is now at 44'C so a big difference there and watching video's doesnt seem to trigger the screen judder so far.

What id like to know is how come the default setting is so low? Do you think the card bios has been altered before? its a second hand card so perhaps the original owner flashed a custom bios so that it was quieter or something? So now, if this stays stable for next couple of days, would the next step be to use RBE to mod my original Bios with a slightly altered Fan Speed Default? So that i dont have to make alterations in CCC. What do you guys think?

 

[So Solid Jedi]

Another Update, although a good idea to turn the Manual Fan on and have it around 30%-35% to keep the GPU cool, it hasnt solved my problem of Flicker/Judder when viewing video's, now i am stuck as to what to try next, Any ideas? Do you think i could RMA the card? i mean, its just nothing but problems since i had it, surely itd be better just to get a newer card? Looking on Google this card seems to be the worst for flicker problems

 

[Black_Lion]

No, my HD5870 has 21% as default, AMD just likes to keep their cards hot & quiet instead of cool and middle noisy. But my card runs in idle mode at 49ºC, much cooler then yours. About the RBE profile, i think you are doing the right thing, since the card will get cooler that way :3

But, try and clean your cooler, just to make sure t's not dust's fault. Some cards can drop 20ºC just with a quick cleanup!

 

[So Solid Jedi]

No, my HD5870 has 21% as default, AMD just likes to keep their cards hot & quiet instead of cool and middle noisy. But my card runs in idle mode at 49ºC, much cooler then yours. About the RBE profile, i think you are doing the right thing, since the card will get cooler that way :3

But, try and clean your cooler, just to make sure t's not dust's fault. Some cards can drop 20ºC just with a quick cleanup!

Wow as much as that just by cleaning them up, still isnt the problem causing my Screen to judder for a sec or 2 when i watch any video's

 

[Black_Lion]

Well, lets try to trace down the issue. Although that "judder" (its something like the screen gets cracked in half, right? thats what happened to me before the mod) is normal, as my HD5870 without my Bios mod does the same thing. Open up GPUz and look at the Core and Memory Voltage. Then start up a youtube Video, and look at them. Do they change to something different? IF so, can you post here the values?

 

[So Solid Jedi]

well, i didnt notice any change when viewing youtube video, and the flicker is like the Screen is changing resolution or something, the flicker happens for like a sec

 

[So Solid Jedi]

i think these settings was when i wasnt viewin you tube video

 

[So Solid Jedi]

 

[Black_Lion]

Yes, the problem is the same as mine: your Memory clock has changed from 900 Mhz to 500 Mhz. When you load up an Youtube video, your card temporarily gets into "3D Mode", which causes the "jumpy cracked screens". In order to fix that, you must edit your bios into having 900 Mhz for ALL the power states (idle and 3D). If you want, i can help you with that, i will just need some RBE Screenshots or if you want me to do it, the Bios file to edit (Although its super easy, you only have to change the clock & the voltage from that clock state into the 3D voltage one (to make sure no BSOD will strike you).

 

[So Solid Jedi]

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/220/bioscapture.png/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/143/bioscapture2.png/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/98/bioscapture3.png/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/bioscapture4.png/

there you go

 

[Black_Lion]

Ok, now, you have to change the following fields:

- Clock Info 04 / 05 / 06

I Checked and your RAM voltage is somehow constant (it does not have it's proper field of voltage) so there is no problem concerning voltages. Now, in order to make sure that your card gets stable (no crazy broken screens), you need to change the RAM fields that have "500" in to 900 (RAM fields, NOT GPU Fields!). Check the Screen below, the red circles are the fields you must change to 900:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/638/bioscapture2.jpg/

After that, just File » Save and flash it into your card (I use ATI Flash, the one that runs under DOS, to flash my card more safely.)

After the flash you know the rules, Disable AMD Overdrive and enable it again to make the crazy screen disappear, and no more flicker! Ever!