Accidentally flashed my 5870 with a modified 6950 BIOS...recovery possible?

[Ductapemaster]

So I'll make my admission of guilt short: I'm an idiot. It was late and I was deep in the instructions to modify my 6850 and unlock the shaders. I extracted BIOS backups from both my 6850 and my 5870, used a script to modify the 6850 BIOS and change the shader value (my 6850 is a non-reference, so this seemed to be the safer route). I then used a batch script that uses ATIWinFlash to flash my card. However, I forgot to modify the device number in the batch script and it flashed my 5870 instead. I realized this when I restarted and my computer would not POST (the 5870 was in slot 0).

So, I've now spent all day reading up on how to recover my card.

Here's the situation:

- I can successfully boot with the 5870 in slot 1 and my 6850 in slot 0.
- The 5870 shows up in windows as a VGA device, but outputs no video. My PC bluescreened when I tried to go into the screen resolution dialog built into windows (not catalyst control center).
- The fan on the card spins up as if it was starting normally when power is applied.

Here's what I've tried so far:

- Flashing with ATIWinFlash. It does not see the card. Only my 6850 shows up when I run with "-i"
- Booting off a USB stick into DOS and flashing with ATIFlash. Does not recognize my card when I run with "-i"
- Blind flash with ATIFlash. Booted into DOS with the 6850 in the machine only (slot 0), removed 6850 and replaced with 5870 while PC was on an at the dos command line. Ran ATIFlash command. No change, card is still not recognized. I'm certain the command was typed correctly.
- I took the cooler off my card, found the BIOS chip and shorted VCC and WP# (pins 3 and 8 according to the datasheet). ATIFlash still does not recognize the card. I'm an electrical engineer and I am confident that the soldering was done correctly.

I'm really at a loss here and I'm surprised that I've gone as far as I have with no results. Is there anything I missed or is there anything else that I can try? I just bought this card and it was working great and now all it is is a paperweight

 

[TheMailMan78]

Anything is possible through Jesus.

 

[Ductapemaster]

Is that a sarcastic way of saying I'm screwed?

 

[TheMailMan78]

Chances are yes. However there are some far more knowledgeable people here on TPU who might be able to help you. I wouldn't give up yet. I just have no idea what else you could do. However I haven't messed with a GPU BIOS in years.

 

[qubit]

It's his sarcastic way of being unhelpful.

Is the PSI-E slot hot swappable? If not, that would prevent the card from initializing properly when plugged in with the power on. I think there's a guide or two on TPU for how to flash graphics card bioses which may help you.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Have you tried a blind flash Ductape?

Edit: Never mind I see you did. You honestly sound like you bricked it man. Since your new here Ill ask around for you and see if there is a way out.

It's his sarcastic way of being unhelpful..

What I said is true. Anything is possible through Jesus.

 

[Ductapemaster]

Yes, blind flash was tried. I mean I can't say with 100% certainty it went as expected since I couldn't see anything, but I was very careful. I might try it again soon just to be sure.

Since my situation is pretty serious, does anyone know if anyone has had any luck, or even tried, manually flashing the chip? As in direct programming not through the PC? I could write up some microcontroller code to flash it with the binary file I extracted, but I might need some more info about how it is stored, etc.

As for the hot-swappable question: I believe PCIe is inherently not hot-swappable. I've read lots of guides and one of them suggested doing the swap as a last resort before the solder modification.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Yes, blind flash was tried. I mean I can't say with 100% certainty it went as expected since I couldn't see anything, but I was very careful. I might try it again soon just to be sure.

Since my situation is pretty serious, does anyone know if anyone has had any luck, or even tried, manually flashing the chip? As in direct programming not through the PC? I could write up some microcontroller code to flash it with the binary file I extracted, but I might need some more info about how it is stored, etc.

I contacted the Shoaling Monk of all GPU's. Dunno if he will come down from the mountain to help but if he does your questions will be answered. Anyway I also contacted a few other people. Dunno if they will be able to help but since your new I hope they will.

 

[Ductapemaster]

Thanks man, I appreciate it. Apologies for the snarky comeback...I just wasn't expecting that kind of response

 

[jboydgolfer]

those programs should be REMOVED from the internet. Or, atleast have some kind of fail safe, where You have to click "yes" like a hundred times BEFORE anything can be changed. If Forum moderator's removed all posts, or threads pertaining to Mis-Flashed GPU's, there would be FAR less Forum/Posts on Tech talk sites.

My heart goes out to You OP. Good Luck.

 

[Steevo]

those programs should be REMOVED from the internet. Or, atleast have some kind of fail safe, where You have to click "yes" like a hundred times BEFORE anything can be changed. If Forum moderator's removed all posts, or threads pertaining to Mis-Flashed GPU's, there would be FAR less Forum/Posts on Tech talk sites.

My heart goes out to You OP. Good Luck.

You should be REMOVED from the internet, and there is a good reason why they are all labeled as use at your own risk. Seriously this is the most unhelpful post on a tech enthusiast hardware site I think I have ever seen, we are all supposed to be knowledgeable adults here who assume the risks taken with what we do, otherwise go buy a console or prebuilt computer and never worry about what the inside looks like.


You have to force the flash or night have to figure out where to jumper and erase the EPROM before performing the flash.



- Blind flash with ATIFlash. Booted into DOS with the 6850 in the machine only (slot 0), removed 6850 and replaced with 5870 while PC was on an at the dos command line. Ran ATIFlash command. No change, card is still not recognized. I'm certain the command was typed correctly.

Never pull a working card from PCIe slot!!! More than likely this is what will have or may have actually bricked the card.

- I took the cooler off my card, found the BIOS chip and shorted VCC and WP# (pins 3 and 8 according to the datasheet). ATIFlash still does not recognize the card. I'm an electrical engineer and I am confident that the soldering was done correctly.

I have force flashed all sorts of BIOS's onto cards and never had one actually brick from it, I have had to write batch files in another PC to run the flash for me and it has always recovered the card.


Placing it back into the primary slot so it would show as "0" run this from ATIflash. and replace the [index] portion with the 0 or adapter namespace, and the 4870.bin with your BIOS filename.

atiflash -f -newbios -p [index] 4870.bin

 

[Ductapemaster]

those programs should be REMOVED from the internet. Or, atleast have some kind of fail safe, where You have to click "yes" like a hundred times BEFORE anything can be changed. If Forum moderator's removed all posts, or threads pertaining to Mis-Flashed GPU's, there would be FAR less Forum/Posts on Tech talk sites.

People will never stop tinkering, playing, or modifying their electronics. I fooled around a lot with things like this as a kid, and as a result, I majored in electrical engineering. I'm sure there's lots of kids out there who are doing exactly the same thing. Engineers learn by making mistakes, and this is one of many I've made and am learning from. Is that so bad?

I took a risk with a secondhand card I got a deal on. However, I should have been more careful. It's my fault. I'm not sitting here blaming the programmers of the flashing software, or the people whose forum posts I read in search of instructions.

Now I'm here, tail between my legs, in full acceptance of responsibility. No one is required to help me. No one here even knows who I am. I just need a little assistance and I'm asking nicely.

So please consider the context before coming in and making large sweeping statements that do nothing but inflame people and their passions.

Now I'd love for this thread to not become a flame war. I've said my part and I'm done.

My heart goes out to You OP. Good Luck.

The least I can do is thank you for that.

You have to force the flash or night have to figure out where to jumper and erase the EPROM before performing the flash.

Precisely the kind of road I think I need to go down. I've been looking into things a little more and it seems like the all the jumper I installed does is turn off the write protection. I'm not terribly clear on the PCIe standard and how things are enumerated on the bus, which is the point at which things seem to be failing, or whether the EEPROM is involved in that at all. Hopefully someone can step in with some insight.

 

[Ductapemaster]

Sorry for the double post, I just saw you edited your post with more info.

- Blind flash with ATIFlash. Booted into DOS with the 6850 in the machine only (slot 0), removed 6850 and replaced with 5870 while PC was on an at the dos command line. Ran ATIFlash command. No change, card is still not recognized. I'm certain the command was typed correctly.

Never pull a working card from PCIe slot!!! More than likely this is what will have or may have actually bricked the card.

I knew it was a bad idea, but I read a guide (attached) that said to do it as a last resort. The symptoms have not changed at all since then, so I'm going to assume that nothing has changed since. However I'm fully aware I could have killed it.

- I took the cooler off my card, found the BIOS chip and shorted VCC and WP# (pins 3 and 8 according to the datasheet). ATIFlash still does not recognize the card. I'm an electrical engineer and I am confident that the soldering was done correctly.

I have force flashed all sorts of BIOS's onto cards and never had one actually brick from it, I have had to write batch files in another PC to run the flash for me and it has always recovered the card.

Placing it back into the primary slot so it would show as "0" run this from ATIflash. and replace the [index] portion with the 0 or adapter namespace, and the 4870.bin with your BIOS filename.

atiflash -f -newbios -p [index] 4870.bin

Only issue with this is I have no video output from the card. Is that normal? I did this when I did the PCIe swap/blind flash. I might try a full blind flash without the swap in a few minutes here.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Will require the following;
- onboard vga / igp, pci vga card or have a dual pcie mobo and spare pcie vga card

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

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.

- up to date version of ati flash go here - http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...atiflash-3-99/

- Original and or backup copy of the bios image for the vga card

- copy atiflash and vbios image [#Bios Name.rom] to the flash drive, enter the mobo bios and make PC bootable from USB device

- length of wire * long enough for the loop to be cut with wire cutters or snips [pref wire from an eighty pin ide cable or similar]

Example:



- connect pin 1 and pin 8 on the vga vbios chip [solder or loop the wire *make sure the wire is in good contact and that no exposed wire makes contact with other parts of the PCB]

- boot the system with wire attached

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

- type at dos promt atiflash -ai 1 [1 if the card is inserted in PCIE x16 slot 1 on the mobo and booting from onboard vga/iGP or PCI vga card default to 0]

- *if card is identifyed by atiflash!* cut wire

- flash card with original and or backup of original vbios image; type at the dos promt atiflash -f -p 1 #BiosName#.rom

atiflash commands here -
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=57750
Thanks go out to CrackerJack
Fixing a completely gone wrong ATI BIOS flash.pdf
Thanks go out to Frogger

atb (all the best)

Law-II

 

[Ductapemaster]

Ahhhh very interesting, thanks Law-II! I had a feeling that I was doing something odd with the solder mod I did. Disabling the chip select makes a whole lot more sense than the write protect pin in my case. I will try this and get back to you.

 

[Ductapemaster]

You saved my card!!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I couldn't be happier right now.

If you have a bitcoin address or something like that I'd love to gift you a beer.

Also for the record, my hunch that connecting 3 and 8 was incorrect and it was in fact the chip select that needed to be disabled....

 

[Law-II]

Hi

If you have a bitcoin address or something like that I'd love to gift you a beer.

That's great news please feel free to press the "Thanks" button in my post

Also for the record, my hunch that connecting 3 and 8 was incorrect and it was in fact the chip select that needed to be disabled....

Thanks for the info

atb

Law-II

 

[Vario]

Wow it didn't brick pulling it out of the PCIE? I am amazed.

 

[Tobiman]

I currently have a similar problem with my 7870. I flashed a 290 bios on top of it. I tried the wire mod but it's not working. I'm wondering maybe I wired the wrong chip?

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Welcome to TPU

I currently have a similar problem with my 7870. I flashed a 290 bios on top of it. I tried the wire mod but it's not working. I'm wondering maybe I wired the wrong chip?

That was silly; lets see if we can get it working again

First fill in system specs here

Need to know; Manufactures Make, Model Number and card revision of the 7870 & #Hash Number from the back of the PCB

What application was used to flash the vga card?

What's the number on the chip; wires are attached to?

What dose error message is at DOS prompt; using a bootable flash drive with atiflash type the following command:

atiflash -ai [0 or 1]

Note: pin 1 has a dot next to it

atb

Law-II

 

[Tobiman]

Thanks! The memory chip number is Pm25LD010 and I have the 1 & 8 pins connected like this: http://i61.tinypic.com/szd6ww.jpg
Where do i find the hash #?
I used atiflash that came with the new sapphire 290 bios.
Error is adapter not found.
Yeah, i'm pretty sure it's wired correctly.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

confirmed correct bios chip
example


Source - here

I would double check that the solder and wire is not in contact with any other components and or trace on the PCB

What error message is at DOS prompt?; using a bootable flash drive with atiflash type the following command:

atiflash -ai 0

[-ai switch should show adapter information]

[0 = PCIe Top Slot x16 or use 1 if booting from onboard vga / Igp]

Edit: Where do i find the hash #? not important at this stage; thanks though

Note: Given that the chip is wired correctly and the wire is in a loop between pin 1 & pin 8; when the PC is booted the adapter should be found. check against position 0 and or 1 [Tip: reseat the 7870 and try again, may need to reset the system several times]

Latest version of atiflash here

atb

Law-II

 

[Tobiman]

Wop Wop! Finally got it working. I had to resolder the wires on the pins. Flashed it immediately! Much thanks guys.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

That's great news, well done

atb

Law-II

 

[damric]

Anything is possible through Jesus.

Jesus must have died for BIOS flash sins!