Custom BIOS needed 4 missused unknow make card..!!

[morpheuscm]

Hi can anyone build me a custom bios to get a messed up 9600 Pro card working again ?? (manafacturer name unknown) (pic attached)

The story.!
A friend of mine who knows I build Pc's asked if I could repair a 9600 Pro card that had been used and abused and now had a major fault . As I had previously repaired a 9800 Pro that was checker boarding by changing Gpu/Mem timings and flashing,I thought I might be able to fix this card as well.

So I did the research got the numbers and found only two bios that might fix it. Tried them at stock timer settings then at custom timer settings but all to no avail.

The card installs ok and in windows - hardware manager it says all is well - but it isnt!!
On accessing the screen attributes only a stock agp adaptor is shown - 16 colors only - 800x600.
The card does not present itself in windows desktop display with ATI Cat drivers or Omega drivers. (using latest drivers)

The ATI tool will display the card information but it will NOT show the 3D pannel or the artifact test screen.

So here is all the information I have gathered about the card - Is there anybody out there who can solve this riddle ??

Outside of card:
ATI 9600 Pro 256Mb W/Tv
Dsub, Div, Svd
Pcb Nos - 107-A03600-01A
Serial Nos - 2 - 041196 - 452936

Memory Info:
Hynix - 413A
HY5DU561622CT-4

GPU Info:
Radion 9600SE
215R8SCKA13F
N05716.00
0402AA

ATI tool data:
4150
RV350
AGP
Unknown
256MB
DDR
128 Bit
4
325 Mhz
200 Mhz
0x0
0x0
0x0
0xFD565092


From the above I have assumed the following:
(If my investigations have been correct so far)
GPU is a RV350SE runnig at 325/200 Mhz
Memory is 128Bit - 250Mhz - 2.5v
(the card is F.U.B.A.R at this current time......Lol)

Original BIOS vaporized by said friend - I got the card when it would lock up the pc on boot and I had to do the old PCI recovery job to a close sort of bios to get it to work at all again. I think he tried to flash a 9800 bios in it ..........Oh hummmmmmmmmm


If anyone feels they can help - Im all ears........

Thanks for taking the time to read this far.
Pav.

 

[morpheuscm]

Round Two........Ding Ding

Well flashed a 9600SE Bios and hey pressto the card is up and running ....

Windows now sees the card and the desktop has full 32bit color settings back with high res options now available. The ATI tool will now open the 3D display option and the artifact testing window now works as well.

I must admit the manafactur sticker on the back is what threw me (I dont know all these years working on Pc's and I still didnt follow the golden rule of Process the chipset Id only.............Doh) Just before you posted I had come to the conclusion that what I really needed was a Bios that was a 64bit and not the usual 128bit. In deed the 9600SE only comes in 64bit, and that was written on the chip.
Oh im such a fool for following that sticker on the back which said 9600 Pro.

One interesting Point here tho still outstanding is the fact that windows desktop reports the card as only having 128Mb RAM and it does really have 256Mb onboard.(8 chips - 4 either side of the board)

I then checked it with ATI-tool as well and that also said it had 128Mb of Ram.

Very strange I thought - so I checked the Bios with RaBit and that quite clearly reports it (in its log after opening it) as being set ot 256Mb Ram.

So one more look at the memory code off the chip on the internet and low and behold each chip is 16M - as there are 8 of them it makes up 128Mb.

So in reality the sticker on the back of the board has led me a very merry dance - no wonder I was going round and round in circles looking for a bios for a 9600Pro - 128Bit with 256Mb of Hynix 4.0 that would be recognised by windows and wouldnt lock up the Pc on boot.

All I had to do all along was go looking for a 9600SE - 64Bit with 128Mb of Hynix 4.0 and it would have been over and sorted.

Oh well a great thing this Hind Sight - smarts a little tho.

Any how in my travels I have learnt tons more about overclocking and different methods of flashing - hex editors and pipe unlocking it really has been quite an adventure.

Iv fixed my 3yr old 9800 Pro that never really work 100% from day one pixalating ever so slightly in heavy play like HL2 - Fear - Farcry - (on water shots) - Well I just loaded the very latest Sapphire Bios and all was working 100% again.

Iv overclocked a Crucial 9800 Pro so that it runs like a 9800 XT nice and stable.

Iv learnt that my own X800 XT PE was running far to hot with the stock cooler 50' @Idell and 85' @high load (no wonder this hot summer my pc kept crashing when I was playing HL2 Episode One) so I have a Artic Cooler Silencer 5 ver2 - now bolted on and Im down to 40' @Idell and 64' @high load.
So Im set for a more stable system and a happy graphics card.


And to cap it all off I now have a fully functional 9600SE working like new.

All these things from reading all you brill guys postings - what a great site.
(and all in just over a week)

Keep up the great work - Thanks to you all.

Pav.

 

[Polaris573]

Where did your friend get the card? It's pretty disreputable that it had a 9600pro sticker on it when it's clearly not.

 

[morpheuscm]

I think he got it included as part of a pre built system - Windows reported it as "Radion Family 9600/9550/x600/x300" and he never took the time to notice the sticker on the back of the board untill it came to an upgrade on his graphics and he opened up his PC. Then he and some johny know-all chums decided to to try and put a 9800 pro bios on it, which killed it instantly.

I can see their logic - same GPU the RV350 and supposed 256Mb of memory - but they made the fundemental mistake of not doing any backups before starting - not taking the heatsink off and checking the chip-id and not doing enough research on sites like these to find out if it was at all possible.

I mean look at me - 15yrs experience of programming & building Pc's and still getting caught out by beliving the rotten manafacture was telling the truth with the sticker on the back. Im guilty of being slip shod on this as well, but my excuss is that this is the first flashing I have ever done to a AGP card in my life - thrown in at the deep end with a FUBAR card that wouldnt even let the PC start and not having done any reasearch on this procedeur untill now. (but boy am I coming up to speed fast.....lol)

Info - that sticker is now pride of place on my TFT stand - to remind me not to ever get caught out again - (Trust the Chips not the paper they come wrapped in!!) - I have put a new sticker on that says ATI 9600SE 128Mb w/tv - 64bit. So where ever it may end up next it will at least be telling the truth about its identity this time.

Remember everyone - its what is etched into the top of the chip set that counts FIRST - PCB ID Second and then and only then look to any other stick on lable. Let this be a lesson to us all.!!