Flashing Radeon X1650 PRO went bad, ATI flash can't see the GPU

[pokazene_maslo]

Hi.

Recently I received an old but fully working Sapphire Radeon X1650 PRO 256MB as a gift. Since it's an old graphics with barely any value I decided to use it to learn BIOS editing/flashing. I increased the GPU/MEM clocks with RaBiT and then flashed the custom BIOS. ATI flash showed some error message and I didn't write it down (stupid). Since then, the graphiscs card doesn't work and ATI flash can't see it. I tried to follow this guide, however ATI flash still can't see the graphics card. Is there any way how to recover this graphics card without buying an EEPROM programmer? If flashing the bios with EEPROM programmer is the only option, can you please recommend some verified guide how to do that?

Edit: I didn't mention that I tried the recovery with X1650 PRO being installed as secondary (primary GPU was AMD R9 290x) because I assumed that everybody will figgure that out.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hello, Your call is important to us, Please hold the line while we wait for a service representative to become available <Insert awesome phone queue music>

@eidairaman1


On a side note -- if you have a spare graphics card. Plug that one in at the top - use that as a default and plug the 1650 into the other slot and run atiflash and see if it pics the other card up in DOS mode - so create like a bootup disk/usb and go from there. Windows might not pick it up but it might be possible in DOS

 

[er557]

I didnt see any part in that guide that needs to suggest to install a SECONDARY graphics card and boot from it, flashing the ati gpu from "outside" while it being passive, that is the old method that always worked to restore other pci/pcie cards, correct me if I'm wrong @eidairaman1

Edit: @FreedomEclipse that was some small ass font you used, so my suggestion is duplicate...

 

[eidairaman1]

Being a Sapphire Card I need the SKU number from the back and also you need to remove the heatsink and take pictures of the ram and die and a close up of one of the ram chips.

Hi.

Recently I received an old but fully working Sapphire Radeon X1650 PRO 256MB as a gift. Since it's an old graphics with barely any value I decided to use it to learn BIOS editing/flashing. I increased the GPU/MEM clocks with RaBiT and then flashed the custom BIOS. ATI flash showed some error message and I didn't write it down (stupid). Since then, the graphiscs card doesn't work and ATI flash can't see it. I tried to follow this guide, however ATI flash still can't see the graphics card. Is there any way how to recover this graphics card without buying an EEPROM programmer? If flashing the bios with EEPROM programmer is the only option, can you please recommend some verified guide how to do that?

Edit: I didn't mention that I tried the recovery with X1650 PRO being installed as secondary (primary GPU was AMD R9 290x) because I assumed that everybody will figgure that out.

 

[pokazene_maslo]

Hi Eidairaman1.

Requested pictures are below. SKU# is 11090-02.



Thanks!

 

[eidairaman1]

Ill get on it

Well this sucks, there is only 1 bios file and I dont see any in unverified uploads, i might need to use a search engine to find this card.
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/841/sapphire-x1650pro-256-061114

@MrGenius can you take a gander at this file?

https://files.elektroda.pl/516664,sapphire.html

https://octopart.com/k4j52324qe-bc12-samsung-30947775

 

[MrGenius]

I'm on it. Give me a minute...

Well...it's got no VRAM_Info table(where I usually find the pertinent data).

Doesn't mention K4J52324QE anywhere. Does mention DDR3 and DDR2(WTF?).

RaBiT says DDR3 128bit 256MB. Which sorta adds up to what's on his card(32bit 512Mb x4 = 128bit 256MB). The only thing wrong there is the chips on the card are GDDR3 not DDR3.

Other than all that...I don't know what to make of it. Hell...even with all that I don't know what to make of it.

 

[pokazene_maslo]

Just BTW. I do have a backup of the original BIOS. See attached.

 

[Bones]

Yep -That would be the place to start!

The original BIOS is what you need to go with at this point since it's known to work with it.

 

[pokazene_maslo]

Well, I already tried to flash the original bios, but, as I said in the beginning ATIflash cant's see the graphics card anymore.

 

[eidairaman1]

Have you used this program?
https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ati-atiflash/

 

[pokazene_maslo]

When I have installed Radeon R9 290x as primary and x1650 PRO (secondary) the ATI win flash 2.84 shows only the primary graphics card. Besides that, I tried ATIflash 4.07 and 4.17 (DOS). Both of them show only the primary R9 290x.

 

[eidairaman1]

You have 2 options, buy a spi flasher with a chip clip, or bin the card and buy another.

 

[W1zzard]

Have you used this program?
https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ati-atiflash/

If you have some basic soldering skills, find the bios chip, unsolder its chip select pin, bend that pin up slightly so it has no contact and pull it to ground. Then boot with second card, while the system is running, pull chip select high, and flash the original bios

 

[MrGenius]

ATI win flash 2.84 shows only the primary graphics card. Besides that, I tried ATIflash 4.07 and 4.17 (DOS). Both of them show only the primary R9 290x.

Try some older ATIFlash versions. I had to use 3.73 to flash my HD 4650 AGP. Might work, might not.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ati-atiflash/

If it still doesn't work, here's that guide you asked for.
https://www.overclock.net/forum/74-...unbrick-flash-almost-any-card-amd-nvidia.html

If you want to try what W1zzard is suggesting, Pin 1(marked by the dot or dimple) is chip select on that M25P05VP BIOS chip. Doesn't appear to be any markings denoting Pin 1. Hold on...I know which one it is...I'll mark it on the pic below...done.

 

[eidairaman1]

If you have some basic soldering skills, find the bios chip, unsolder its chip select pin, bend that pin up slightly so it has no contact and pull it to ground. Then boot with second card, while the system is running, pull chip select high, and flash the original bios

W1zzard can you send me a picture of the pin layouts on these eeproms, so I might be able to help these users remove write protection and cause card detection?

Try some older ATIFlash versions. I had to use 3.73 to flash my HD 4650 AGP. Might work, might not.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ati-atiflash/

If it still doesn't work, here's that guide you asked for.
https://www.overclock.net/forum/74-...unbrick-flash-almost-any-card-amd-nvidia.html

That might be the version that works because X and early HD models were practically the same...

 

[pokazene_maslo]

Yes, I tried ATI win flash from techpowerup download section version 2.84. Unfortunately I don't have soldering skills necessary for unsoldering EEPROM. I used ATIflash 4.07 (DOS) to flash the BIOS and that's when it showed the error I mentioned earlier. Since then, no flashing utility I tried sees the graphics card.

Is buying the SPI Flasher the only option left?

MrGenius: on that chip is written something like: 25POSVP ST 9741X

 

[MrGenius]

Is buying the SPI Flasher the only option left?

Maybe, maybe not. It depends on if you can get the chip select trick to work or not. From what I understand of it, you would want to short Pin 1(chip select) to Pin 8(Vcc = Supply Voltage/High) to fix the card not being seen by ATIFlash. And unshort those pins to be able to flash it. Without soldering you can short the pins with any metallic object. Like a short piece of wire, or a paper clip, or a metal pair of tweezers. Keep the pins shorted until you're ready to flash it. Boot into Windows or DOS with the pins shorted. Once booted unshort the pins and run ATIFlash with the following command first:

atiflash -i

If ATIFlash sees the card, reflash your backup BIOS.

That's pretty much the gist of it AFAIK. I am reading about a slightly different method, which is to leave the pins shorted until after you've run atiflash -i. Which will show the card but state "fail". Then unshort the pins and run atiflash -i again. Which should show the card and the BIOS version. Then flash it if it does.
https://forum.ethereum.org/discussion/9443/bricked-your-rx-480-due-to-bad-flash

What W1zzard's saying to do is slightly different too. In that case you'd want to try using Pin 4(Vss = Ground/Low) to ground Pin 1(chip select), and then Pin 8(Vcc = Supply Voltage/High) to pull Pin 1(chip select) high.

 

[W1zzard]

W1zzard can you send me a picture of the pin layouts on these eeproms, so I might be able to help these users remove write protection and cause card detection?

I think it's always pin 1, but best to Google the flash chip

 

[MrGenius]

MrGenius: on that chip is written something like: 25POSVP ST 9741X

The one I'm talking about is the one you have. I've cross-checked a bunch of images and that's it. You can trust me on it.

I think it's always pin 1, but best to Google the flash chip

On every one I've ever seen it is.

Chip Select = Pin 1
Serial Data(I, O, or I/O) = Pin 2
Write Protect = Pin 3
Vss/Ground = Pin 4
Serial Data(I, O, or I/O) = Pin 5
Serial Clock = Pin 6
Hold = Pin 7
Vcc/Supply Voltage = Pin 8

Seems to be the industry standard. But it is always best to verify it with the datasheet.

 

[pokazene_maslo]

I wasn't able to use tweezers to connect pin 1 with pin 8 since in the first PCIe slot was the working R9 290x and then in the second PCIe slot was the broken x1650. There is not enough room between the cards to put there a pair of tweezers. So i tried a paperclip:
(based on the pin nubering MrGenius provided above)

The screw holds the cooler (and my paperclip).

I tried atiflash 3.73, 4.07, 4.17 (freedos "atiflash -ai"), then ati win flash 2.71, 2.87 and neither of those didn't see the x1650.

 

[kastriot]

I wasn't able to use tweezers to connect pin 1 with pin 8 since in the first PCIe slot was the working R9 290x and then in the second PCIe slot was the broken x1650. There is not enough room between the cards to put there a pair of tweezers. So i tried a paperclip:
(based on the pin nubering MrGenius provided above)
View attachment 117759
The screw holds the cooler (and my paperclip).

I tried atiflash 3.73, 4.07, 4.17 (freedos "atiflash -ai"), then ati win flash 2.71, 2.87 and neither of those didn't see the x1650.

Did you unshorted pins before running atiflash?

 

[Caring1]

I might be wrong, but I believe pin 8 is where pin 5 is shown in the above diagram.
They are usually diagonally opposite.
Edit: It seems I am wrong, ignore this post

 

[pokazene_maslo]

Did you unshorted pins before running atiflash?

Yes, I booted to freedos with those pins shortened, I tried to run atiflash -ai with them connected - x1650 not visible. Then I removed the paperclip and run atiflash -ai, again, x1650 not visible. As improvement I covered the screw with non conductive sticky tape to prevent any short circuit with the rest of the card.

 

[eidairaman1]

Spi flasher needed or another card at this rate.