Using Atiflash with two pci-e cards

[awallabilla]

hi..
Ati Bios flash has failed before and i dont have an onboard vga or an old pci vga card.. i have two pci-e cards and a motherboard with two pci-e slots(gigabyte p35 ds4 / 1slot 16x+1slot 4x).. i want to flash a new bios to one of my cards(hd 2600xt and hd3870).. so could you help me about how can i flash the new bios to it?

İ have tried to flash a new bios to my card with a motherboard which has an onboard vga before but it didnt work..i have recieved the message ''Adapter not found'' severel times when i was using the commands ''atiflash or flashrom -f -p 0/1/2'' ''... -p 0/1/2'' ''... -i 0/1/2'' etc..

I think if you have a motherboard with an onboard vga(and if it is enabled), it deactives the pci-e slot or something like that.. because you cant reach the pci-e card under ms-dos..
So i decided to use two pci-e cards together to flash a new bios to one of them..

i have to select the card which is not the card i will try to flash bios to.. from the options ''init display first'' and i have to boot system with this card and flash the bios to the other one.. right?

1) if i plug the card(which i want to flash bios to) into the 4x pci-e slot to flash bios, would be a problem?(because of 4x speed) should i do the opposite of this?
2) should i try to flash bios on Windows with using Atiwinflash?

i am wondering what you say about my situation.. any advices ?

Thanks..

 

[Flash]

Not exactly sure, but never use -f parameter. As in FAQ, it should never be needed.

 

[tzitzibp]

i use atiwinflash for ease....but i only flash one card at the time....ie unplug on of the cards, leave only one on the mobo, flash, remove the flashed one, plug in the second, flash, (goes without saying that i reboot between each stage), plug the second in, crossfire link them...done ! I have followed this process for three crossfire setups and never failed!

 

[sneekypeet]

Not exactly sure, but never use -f parameter. As in FAQ, it should never be needed.

the -f parameter for AIT flash is for "force" (as in force flash) not FAQ

 

[awallabilla]

i use atiwinflash for ease....but i only flash one card at the time....ie unplug on of the cards, leave only one on the mobo, flash, remove the flashed one, plug in the second, flash, (goes without saying that i reboot between each stage), plug the second in, crossfire link them...done ! I have followed this process for three crossfire setups and never failed!

thanks for the post..but i cant boot with my ''bios flash failed'' pci-e card(3870) i can boot with only hd2600.. because of that i have to boot the system with an onboard vga or an old pci card.. my mobo has not an onboard vga.. and i dont have an old pci card so i have to boot the system with both of the pci-e cards(plugged into the slots 16x and 4x) to flash a bios to one of them .. and i have to use the other pci-e card as the display device during the flashing process..

 

[Tatty_Two]

As you have rightly noted, you can only do this from a DOS boot disk for the reasons you have mentioned.
You should be able to put the good card in the x16 slot, the bad in the x4 slot, boot to the DOS boot disk and type in the command..................

atiflash -f -p 1 "whateveryouhavecalledit.bin"

Noting that the "1" in the commandline is for the secondry adaptor (as opposed to "0" for the primary) therefore the secondry (dead) card will be flashed.

That should work! (I think)

 

[tzitzibp]

if its within warranty....rma it asap!
if not... well you can do a "blind" flash on the card... hope this helps!

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=57750

 

[tzitzibp]

As you have rightly noted, you can only do this from a DOS boot disk for the reasons you have mentioned.
You should be able to put the good card in the x16 slot, the bad in the x4 slot, boot to the DOS boot disk and type in the command..................

atiflash -f -p 1 "whateveryouhavecalledit.bin"

Noting that the "1" in the commandline is for the secondry adaptor (as opposed to "0" for the primary)

That should work! (I think)

thanks for the info! though I hope I never have to go through with something like this...

btw what is your mark06 score at the moment?
is my 23996 good enough to beat it?

 

[Tatty_Two]

thanks for the info! though I hope I never have to go through with something like this...

Its actually really simple,no different from doing a standard boot disk flash, as in his good card is in the primary slot (so he gets to see the screen) and bad in the secondry, the command line simply forces the flash to the bad card.....re-boot......job done! well thats the theory, never actually tried it meself!

 

[awallabilla]

As you have rightly noted, you can only do this from a DOS boot disk for the reasons you have mentioned.
You should be able to put the good card in the x16 slot, the bad in the x4 slot, boot to the DOS boot disk and type in the command..................

atiflash -f -p 1 "whateveryouhavecalledit.bin"

Noting that the "1" in the commandline is for the secondry adaptor (as opposed to "0" for the primary) therefore the secondry (dead) card will be flashed.

That should work! (I think)

İ did but it didnt work.. damn message again ''Adapter not Found'' and i tried the right opposite(16x bad / 4x good).. there was no difference why does not the system detect the cards? i tried the command ''atiflash -i'' and same message again..

 

[awallabilla]

if its within warranty....rma it asap!
if not... well you can do a "blind" flash on the card... hope this helps!

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=57750

I thought about that before but i cant boot with only the bad card so i cant get into Ms-Dos.. and also atiwinflash does not detect the bad card under winXp..

 

[Tatty_Two]

İ did but it didnt work.. damn message again ''Adapter not Found'' and i tried the right opposite(16x bad / 4x good).. there was no difference why does not the system detect the cards? i tried the command ''atiflash -i'' and same message again..

I am guessing the origional bad flash may have damaged your card further than just the bad flash, if you cannot even force a flash....that just aint good!

 

[awallabilla]

@Tatty_One

i dont think that bad flash has damaged my card.. The system does not detect the good card under Dos with the command ''atiflash -i'' either.. but my hd2600xt is not damaged or something..i bought it 3 days ago.. i have tried all of the options from bios screen(peg/peg2/pci).. i think i am missing something but i dont know what it is..

 

[Tatty_Two]

@Tatty_One

i dont think that bad flash has damaged my card.. The system does not detect the good card under Dos with the command ''atiflash -i'' either.. but my hd2600xt is not damaged or something..i bought it 3 days ago.. i have tried all of the options from bios screen(peg/peg2/pci).. i think i am missing something but i dont know what it is..

Even when the 2600 is in the secondary slot? Because the command "1" will only work with the secondary.

 

[awallabilla]

@Tatty_One

Yes.. i have tried to flash bios when 3870(bad one) plugged into primary and secondary pci-e slots..there is no difference.. always getting the same damn message..
adapter not found..

 

[Tatty_Two]

@Tatty_One

Yes.. i have tried to flash bios when 3870(bad one) plugged into primary and secondary pci-e slots..there is no difference.. always getting the same damn message..
adapter not found..

Very strange, that would indicate it's not the right card in the selected slot when obviously it is... ie, 3870 flash to slot with 2600 in it would make that error meessage make sense, obviously your not doing that so I am a bit stumped.

 

[awallabilla]

i found something on this forum;

Thats not true ether. With out the eeprom with the right BIOS on it, the system even with a PCI video card will not boot. The system will lock up when trying to reed the video cards BIOS in to system memory. You have to have the eeprom with the right BIOS at boot up then after boot up hot swap the eeprom to the one you want to program (I use a small peace of tape to hold the eeprom in place) then run the flash program.

from here;
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=15515&highlight=init+display

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

To do this you will need to be able to solider surface mounted 8 pin dips. A heat gun will be needed because a iron will not do to remove the 8 pin dip (EEprom). If you can do that then you will have to have a working card that you can remove the EEprom off of but have a way to hold it on the card to boot up with then hot swap it with the EEprom you want to reflash.

The the reason the card has no ID in ATIflash is because the ID string on the eeprom is damages or missing so it can't load on boot to the system memory. There is a command in ATIflash that will allow you to force a new ID string and the -F command will not do this. I think its (-newXXX) somthing. Just look fro a command with new in it.

 

[awallabilla]

Unfortunately i have tried to use the command ''atiflash -i'' with my 2600xt(the good one) and i have recieved the same warning .. adapter not found.. not only with the bad 3870..but my 2600xt was not flashed before.. i have bought it a few weeks ago..its not broken either..
is there any setting value which i have to change at bios? (except Init Display First) i am using gigabyte p35 ds4 mobo..

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

there is no help in the bios. That is strange. Do you have another mother board to work with? If so see if you can get a adapter ID with the HD2600.

 

[theorw]

Listen here!I had found this in a greek forum about ocing and flashing Ati cards and the author was thanked millions of times!!!
He mentions about an EMERGENCY FLASH FLOPPY!!!
Do these steps:
1)find a bios for your card on the net(he says u should backup your bios before trying to flash but u didnt...!)
2)Creat a bootable floppy and put there atiflash and the bios
3)Open notepad and type this: atiflash -p 0 yourbiosname.bin(or .rom)
4)Save it and rename it Autoexec.bat and paste it in the floppy

Now the floppy must have atiflash,the bios and the Autoexec.bin.

Now put it in the floppy and wait a little while the flashing gets done!
Ihope it does anyway but the author was no noob overclocker so GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!
(THIS IS IF U PLACE THE VGA ON SLOT 1!IF U PUT HER ON SLOT 2 ON THE COMMAND,REPLACE 0 WITH 1!!!!)

 

[awallabilla]

there is no help in the bios. That is strange. Do you have another mother board to work with? If so see if you can get a adapter ID with the HD2600.

i dont have another mobo at this time.. but i will try to find one .. if i did will the card ID be same with all of the motherboards i use? or will it change? thanks..

 

[awallabilla]

Listen here!I had found this in a greek forum about ocing and flashing Ati cards and the author was thanked millions of times!!!
He mentions about an EMERGENCY FLASH FLOPPY!!!
Do these steps:
1)find a bios for your card on the net(he says u should backup your bios before trying to flash but u didnt...!)
2)Creat a bootable floppy and put there atiflash and the bios
3)Open notepad and type this: atiflash -p 0 yourbiosname.bin(or .rom)
4)Save it and rename it Autoexec.bat and paste it in the floppy

Now the floppy must have atiflash,the bios and the Autoexec.bin.

Now put it in the floppy and wait a little while the flashing gets done!
Ihope it does anyway but the author was no noob overclocker so GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!
(THIS IS IF U PLACE THE VGA ON SLOT 1!IF U PUT HER ON SLOT 2 ON THE COMMAND,REPLACE 0 WITH 1!!!!)

Yeah i have seen that thread which you are talking about.. it makes sense to me too.. i will try this and i will post the results.. Thanks..

 

[H82LUZ73]

before you do take out the 2600xt.....try an old pci card then flash your 3870 and might i ask why are you using 2 different cards ....I hope your not trying crossfire with them that would explain the flash problems.

Ok i re read your post Do this put your 3870 in the pice slot 1 then you 2600 in slot 2 ,now select peg2 to boot from the 2600,then flash the 3870 in slot1 ....

atiflash -f -p 0 3870.bin Make sure you are USING the NEWEST ATIFLASH for this.

 

[awallabilla]

@H82LUZ73

i have already did what you said.. but there was no difference.. i have recieved the message ''adapter not found'' again .. i am really confused.. i cant reach 2600xt under ms-dos either but i can reach it under windows with atiwinflash.. what a strange problem i have.. i want to try with using an old pci card but i dont have one.. maybe i should get one before i do what theorw said..