Bricked 6950, can't reflash. Help needed!

[Alexx]

Hi
-When VGA Drivers; where *not removed before flashing

These are regular drivers for the graphic card (Ati Catalyst)? If yes, I deleted all ATI drivers with Driver Sweeper right before flashing the card.

And I tried 3 bioses so far, I doubt that all of them were corrupted.
Hmm, very strange.

 

[drdeathx]

The card is dead. Use it as a paper weight. You said you flashed it and it worked for a year. Then it didn't and your trying to reflash it. My recollection is flashing an 6950 to 6970 causes the VRM's to run hot and I saw some guys burn the card. that will teach guys trying to flash 6960'ds to 6970's/ Make sure you tell MSI that when you attempt to RMA the card.

 

[GreiverBlade]

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

i do, if you searched the forum and read some post of 6950 flash ( and also Law-II helped a lot in the topic i did about this) and i wrote also on difference between bios flashed then if you dont do a cleanup (aka removing totaly drivers then re installing them). this is the result.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176001

mine was also bricked (uh ? really? ) indeed, bios backup was also flashed wrong xD (and not by me xD)

or like say the "man with the Avatar who look friendly as a prison doors and give me a strange feeling" (no grief ofc), its dead jim.

 

[Aquinus]

These are regular drivers for the graphic card (Ati Catalyst)? If yes, I deleted all ATI drivers with Driver Sweeper right before flashing the card.

And I tried 3 bioses so far, I doubt that all of them were corrupted.
Hmm, very strange.

That's because you probably killed your card.

You can kill your video card just by flashing the BIOS for another 6950 to your card. This is because memory has different timings and voltages as well as different voltages for signaling different components on the board (such as the VRMs.) So it's very possible that you killed the card just by flashing it.

I should hold on to this link because this quote applies to almost every VGA BIOS flash thread that finds its way to the TPU forums:

You have no reason to flash the video BIOS. If I've posted it once, I've posted it a million times.

Don't flash your video BIOS! If it's not broken, don't fix it. If you have to ask, you shouldn't be doing it.

Some people disagree with me, but in most cases unless your a professional overclocker, you have no reason to flash the video BIOS. So unless there is something wrong with your GPU, don't take the chance. It's not worth it. Flashing your video BIOS is not a mythical creature that can mysteriously make your video card turn water into wine, so don't treat it as such. It's a procedure that (you found out,) can destroy your card. Just don't do it, your experience won't be that much better if you succeed anyways. It's high risk with little payout. That's call a bad investment.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2873351&postcount=4

 

[BiggieShady]

You can kill your video card just by flashing the BIOS for another 6950 to your card. This is because memory has different timings and voltages as well as different voltages for signaling different components on the board (such as the VRMs.) So it's very possible that you killed the card just by flashing it.

This ... is exactly how I bricked my radeon 4870 back in '09 and it was the last time I flashed BIOS on my graphics card ... so I learned my lesson - graphics cards rarely/never get specific bios update, so you are always flashing bios for another board - never a good idea unless you know exactly all the specs.

 

[MasterUMC]

Alexx, if you really want to get the card back up and running to at least display video, you can contact these guys www.aqstech.com as i've used them before for various firmware failures. think it should run about $50 bucks.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Reminder of the question asked

Anyone had numbers like this?

Image

Yes -see responce in post #25

These are regular drivers for the graphic card (Ati Catalyst)? If yes, I deleted all ATI drivers with Driver Sweeper right before flashing the card.

Yes; I confirm vga drivers should be uninstalled in advance of flashing a vga card at a dos prompt

And I tried 3 bioses so far, I doubt that all of them were corrupted.
Hmm, very strange.

I also doubt that the vbios images are corrupt; other reasons including but not limited to:
- *maybe an issue with the physical vbios 8pin chip on the vga card
- the vbios images that have been flashed are not compatible
- the vga card is failed

Edit: best of luck with the RMA

atb

Law-II

 

[grunt_408]

I would just accept the fact that the card is in heaven now and move on.

 

[Alexx]

Law-II I saw this thread. He was lucky and his graphic card started to work after reflashing, I mean he was able to boot with it. I also tried win98(actually I made all my flashing attempts in it) but the card is not reacting. Last time I flashed it, the strange numbers remained the same, and when I tried to install catalyst, the screen went black and the PC was stuck on it.

So, after all my attempts to revive the card, I requested a RMA from MSI. Gladly, they don't verify it, you can make everything online, so I received it right away, even without speaking to their representative. Let's see how it will go.

Thank you everyone for responding in this thread. I will write here when I'll receive my new/refurbished graphic card.

 

[Pehla]

i just think u idng get right bios!!from my own expirience with same card hd 6950(visiontek) i must tell u u just need to get right bios for that card...i have started a thread before on how many times u can flash the card without breakin it...,and i was told that bios chip can have at least 10 000 wright cicles!!and i try many of them using same method (dos),then i find out only xfx one works fine on mine card..not even original didnt work fine just xfx one!!

 

[Alexx]

Pehla, as you can see, GreiverBlade managed to resurrect his graphic card which had exactly same numbers in gpu-z and also didn't work. I am still pretty sure that it's possible to make it work somehow, but thanks to MSI, who gives away RMAs without any problems, I decided to refurbish it just because it's gonna be easier (and I will obtain an original vbios also)