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How do I use nvflash from Windows Installation USB to fix my bricked GPU with no display output?

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May 23, 2024
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System Name Rocketlake Workstation+ (Yes, it's a workstation, not a gaming PC, so don't mind the GPU)
Processor Intel core i5-11600KF (Overclocked to 5.6 GHz)
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This is my previous thread:https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...system-id-mismatch-disabled-for-linux.322752/, but I'm in a different situation now. I am able to boot to Windows installation from USB and can open CMD by pressing Shift+F10. How can I use nvflash from this command prompt to flash back my good VBIOS? If I copy nvflash and my VBIOS to the Windows installation USB drive, how will I cd into the directory where nvflash is in?
 
Can you see the folder on the USB drive you are placing the nvflash and .rom in?
If so in the address bar left click at the end of the path like shown in picture.
Copy as text then in your CMD ran as Admin you would type G: hit enter "if" G is your USB drive letter.
then type cd "plus a space" then lift click inside the CMD window that should paste the line you copied earlier
now hit enter and you should be in the folder with nvflash and the video.rom file.

Screenshot_531.png
Screenshot_532.png
 
Can you see the folder on the USB drive you are placing the nvflash and .rom in?
If so in the address bar left click at the end of the path like shown in picture.
Copy as text then in your CMD ran as Admin you would type G: hit enter "if" G is your USB drive letter.
then type cd "plus a space" then lift click inside the CMD window that should paste the line you copied earlier
now hit enter and you should be in the folder with nvflash and the video.rom file.

View attachment 349673View attachment 349675
I think you misread the question. First of all I can't "see" anything because I don't have display output from my GPU and my CPU has no iGPU. I accidentally erased my SSD where windows was installed, so i booted from the windows installation usb blindly by tapping F12 and holding down arrow key. (When I thought the USB option was selected I pressed enter). I'm probably at the screen where you select the keyboard layout and language. I can open CMD using shift+f10 here, and the nvflash folder is in the "sources" folder of my USB drive. How can I navigate to there without knowing the drive letter. Also if I somehow do cd into there, will nvflash detect my bricked GPU and flash the VBIOS normally? Do I need the 64 bit or 32 bit version of nvflash?
Thanks for replying.
 
I think you misread the question. First of all I can't "see" anything because I don't have display output from my GPU and my CPU has no iGPU. I accidentally erased my SSD where windows was installed, so i booted from the windows installation usb blindly by tapping F12 and holding down arrow key. (When I thought the USB option was selected I pressed enter). I'm probably at the screen where you select the keyboard layout and language. I can open CMD using shift+f10 here, and the nvflash folder is in the "sources" folder of my USB drive. How can I navigate to there without knowing the drive letter. Also if I somehow do cd into there, will nvflash detect my bricked GPU and flash the VBIOS normally? Do I need the 64 bit or 32 bit version of nvflash?
Thanks for replying.

I mean; the letter is generally X (though it can differ it wont matter for your use case) and you can write a batch file to do this flash for you. Assuming you use the correct flags to auto handle any question prompts, though you could script that also.

You phrase things oodly. You either know you are at the prompt or you dont.

Drop the bin and the script into the "Sources" folder and then flash.bat to do it.

This requires knowing a few things.

How the windows install process works.

How and when to drop to and navigate to console. (Default directory)

How to flash a GPU in an automated fashion.

You need to know these things in advance if you want to do it this way. If you have another system or another GPU this is all trivial but your in a bad way if you are trying to learn it while you only have 1 gpu a bad flash and no alternatives.

Anyway its completely normal for someone to question or misinterpret this is an almost impossible situation just remember who got here with almost no way out.

Anyway.

When you boot of the drive you are prompted with.

1717351780819.png


After pressing a button (you only have a few seconds)

You get the main install menu (this can take several seconds or minutes)

1717351834805.png


Shift + F10 here opens the shell. Which actually AUTOMATICALLY drops you to the correct drive letter and the "sources" folder.

1717351900366.png


From here if you wrote a script you can execute it. Otherwise you can trigger nvflash from this point. I would choose 32bit for compatability, it should run regardless of the windows arch chosen but since we are in a PE environment 32 is always the safe bet.

IF you arent scripting and want to flash it manually you can do that here as well. It should go without saying that all your files. nvflash, bios.bin/rom, script.bat should all be present here and in this directory. Ideally renamed for ease of use.

At this point you will likely want to run the following 2 commands.

Code:
 nvflash.exe --protectoff

Followed by

Code:
 nvflash.exe -6 bios.rom

Its important to include the extension to minimize any problems in a PE environment, though windows has gotten a lot smarter you are likely not going to be able to tab auto complete and this will remove some varables.

However, if your vbios IS damaged you will need to hit "y" shortly after running the flash command. This can take a few seconds so you will need to wait. After pressing "y" it should auto advance. There may even be a flag to remove the "y" warning, but im lazy. Besides you could script this out I imagine if you ever wanted to go that route, though im not inclined to take the time to write it for you.

The flash itself can take a moment, a safe bet would be to go get a soda or make a coffee. It doesnt take long, but it is an eternity if you are in-front of the screen so best not to interrupt it. The system will not automatically restart. The tool will just quit. After it completes just press ctrl+alt+del to reboot the system. With any luck you will get output.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
I mean; the letter is generally X (though it can differ it wont matter for your use case) and you can write a batch file to do this flash for you. Assuming you use the correct flags to auto handle any question prompts, though you could script that also.

You phrase things oodly. You either know you are at the prompt or you dont.

Drop the bin and the script into the "Sources" folder and then flash.bat to do it.

This requires knowing a few things.

How the windows install process works.

How and when to drop to and navigate to console. (Default directory)

How to flash a GPU in an automated fashion.

You need to know these things in advance if you want to do it this way. If you have another system or another GPU this is all trivial but your in a bad way if you are trying to learn it while you only have 1 gpu a bad flash and no alternatives.

Anyway its completely normal for someone to question or misinterpret this is an almost impossible situation just remember who got here with almost no way out.

Anyway.

When you boot of the drive you are prompted with.

View attachment 349715

After pressing a button (you only have a few seconds)

You get the main install menu (this can take several seconds or minutes)

View attachment 349716

Shift + F10 here opens the shell. Which actually AUTOMATICALLY drops you to the correct drive letter and the "sources" folder.

View attachment 349718

From here if you wrote a script you can execute it. Otherwise you can trigger nvflash from this point. I would choose 32bit for compatability, it should run regardless of the windows arch chosen but since we are in a PE environment 32 is always the safe bet.

IF you arent scripting and want to flash it manually you can do that here as well. It should go without saying that all your files. nvflash, bios.bin/rom, script.bat should all be present here and in this directory. Ideally renamed for ease of use.

At this point you will likely want to run the following 2 commands.

Code:
 nvflash.exe --protectoff

Followed by

Code:
 nvflash.exe -6 bios.rom

Its important to include the extension to minimize any problems in a PE environment, though windows has gotten a lot smarter you are likely not going to be able to tab auto complete and this will remove some varables.

However, if your vbios IS damaged you will need to hit "y" shortly after running the flash command. This can take a few seconds so you will need to wait. After pressing "y" it should auto advance. There may even be a flag to remove the "y" warning, but im lazy. Besides you could script this out I imagine if you ever wanted to go that route, though im not inclined to take the time to write it for you.

The flash itself can take a moment, a safe bet would be to go get a soda or make a coffee. It doesnt take long, but it is an eternity if you are in-front of the screen so best not to interrupt it. The system will not automatically restart. The tool will just quit. After it completes just press ctrl+alt+del to reboot the system. With any luck you will get output.

Good luck.
Thanks! I will try it. I do know for sure that I CAN boot from the USB and get to the command prompt.
Another question, I'm using the nvflash with board ID mismatch disabled. It's only 64 bit, and so was the ISO of the windows Installer that I flashed to my usb drive. Can I run it, or do I need a 32 bit version even if my ISO was 64 bit?
 
Thanks! I will try it. I do know for sure that I CAN boot from the USB and get to the command prompt.
Another question, I'm using the nvflash with board ID mismatch disabled. It's only 64 bit, and so was the ISO of the windows Installer that I flashed to my usb drive. Can I run it, or do I need a 32 bit version even if my ISO was 64 bit?

No idea I dont touch that jank shit.
 
I think you misread the question. First of all I can't "see" anything because I don't have display output from my GPU and my CPU has no iGPU. I accidentally erased my SSD where windows was installed, so i booted from the windows installation usb blindly by tapping F12 and holding down arrow key. (When I thought the USB option was selected I pressed enter). I'm probably at the screen where you select the keyboard layout and language. I can open CMD using shift+f10 here, and the nvflash folder is in the "sources" folder of my USB drive. How can I navigate to there without knowing the drive letter. Also if I somehow do cd into there, will nvflash detect my bricked GPU and flash the VBIOS normally? Do I need the 64 bit or 32 bit version of nvflash?
Thanks for replying.
Yes sorry I did misunderstand. As stated above just place the files you need in source folder
or they could be placed in the root of the drive then doing "cd.." should drop you to root but that's a extra step.
Good luck as I have been where you are, but was lucky enough to have a 2nd PC so I could work out each step on the other to do a blind flash.
 
Yes sorry I did misunderstand. As stated above just place the files you need in source folder
or they could be placed in the root of the drive then doing "cd.." should drop you to root but that's a extra step.
Good luck as I have been where you are, but was lucky enough to have a 2nd PC so I could work out each step on the other to do a blind flash.
It's ok. Unfortunately I'm not lucky enough to have any second PC. I will try it. I hope I don't have to buy a new GPU just because of my STUPID curiousity to try different VBIOSes on my gpu. Thanks again.
 
It didn't work, but I think I know why. By default opening CMD drops you into the "X:" drive which is all temporary files loaded into the RAM by windows setup, and not the ACTUAL drive (where nvflash is placed). Would anyone be so kind to tell me what will be the drive letter of my actual USB, if no other drives are connected (SSD, HDD, etc)? I'm sorry if this is going a bit off-topic for the graphics card section.
 
Solved.
 
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