Safe? (6850 BIOS Flashing)

[PiERiT]

The card in my profile has a BIOS switch. Switched to the left, it's borked; the card isn't even recognized and my monitor receives no signal. Switched to the right works fine, and it's what I'm using to type this.

I don't have a backup of the first (left) because I am dumb. I plan to dump the second (right) and use that to restore the first by flipping the switch whilst in Windows and flashing. Is it safe to do this? I know it's what some people did for 6950s, but I don't know if that applies here as well. I don't want to mess up the backup flash on a guess.

Thanks.

 

[erocker]

You will want to flip the switch right before you hit enter to flash.

 

[PiERiT]

In DOS you mean, or in Windows with RBE (or ATIWinFlash)?

If the former, I just tried that and it said Old 2440 New 2441 SSID Mismatch Error 0FL01. Is it safe to ignore that with -f?

If the latter, could you say exactly when? I don't want to hit it before pressing Flash, then have there be two or three confirmation boxes before the actual flash occurs.

Thanks!

 

[erocker]

Use ATiFlash, make a bootable USB drive. Place ATiFlash and the bios file on the flash drive. Then, restart and boot into DOS from the flash drive. Type: C:\atiflash -f -p "nameofbiosfile".rom

Flip the switch

Hit enter.

 

[PiERiT]

Roger, trying that now. Back in a jiffy.

Edit: Worked a treat, thanks. The whole fiasco started when I tried flashing a modified BIOS I made with RBE that had increased 2D clocks. Guess I'll just count my blessings and ditch the idea.

 

[erocker]

Glad it worked out in the end..
There's a way on the driver level to increase your 2d clocks. Read up here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117633

*It needs to be updated since Catalyst has changed since then but it should work. What used to be called "Profiles" is now in "Presets". Good luck and let me know if you have any questions or if something doesn't look right.

 

[PiERiT]

I was doing that prior to trying this, though I was editing the main Profiles.xml. I imagined it would reset every time I updated my drivers, which is what put flashing a custom BIOS in my head.

I'm sure the Profiles (Presets) would stick around after updating drivers, but it doesn't seem to work with 11.6. After creating a Preset and opening the XML, there are only a couple lines. The clock and voltage settings aren't present.

Edit: It also seems my card has developed a terrible coil whine today. Can't catch a break.

 

[erocker]

I'm sure the Profiles (Presets) would stick around after updating drivers, but it doesn't seem to work with 11.6. After creating a Preset and opening the XML, there are only a couple lines. The clock and voltage settings aren't present.

Yeah, I just noticed it doesn't work anymore. I'm trying to figure out a way to get it working again.

*Got it, updating now.

 

[erocker]

Guide is all set, just tested it out and things are working. http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2361148#post2361148

 

[PiERiT]

Nice, thanks. I'll get that set up.

Now if you could only fix my coil whine.