Bad Flash - dead ATI card anyone know how to fix it?

Try to see if you could do it in bios.

Boba Vancouver

<john.TakeThisOut@smith.com> wrote in message
news:r890o114hsfucdpamt120smg9gea4t7smi@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 19 Nov 2005 21:10:47 -1000, "john@smith.com" <john.TakeThisOut@smith.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>Anyway how to fix?
>
> I might try buying a cheapo ancient PCI card. Thats the usual way to
> fix but of course Id like to avoid that.
>
> Anyone know a way to force the onboard video on while the AGP slot is
> occupied?
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> john RemoveThis @smith.comwrote:
Heres the whole idiotic story.
>
> I was swapping two 9600s the other night I have in two of my extra
> PCs. One is a flashable 9600 Pro/Xt the other is a 9600 nonpro.
>
> Well I forgot that I had put the 9600 in my compaq and DUHHHHHHH
which
> usually has the Pro which everyione says is really an XT which I
flash
> to an XT. I saw 9600 in ATI tools when I was testing it and for
some
> bizarre reason I thought it had reverted back to even lower 9600
> status. Yup moronic.
>
> So I decide to reflash it to XT level and of course it promptly now
> shows up dead. It was then of course I remember DUHHHHHH I swapped
the
> cards. I thnk it may have been one of the dumbest things Ive ever
> done. I have a really bad headache now so Im using that as an
excuse.
>
>
> Anyway how to fix?
>
> I have builtin graohics in the compaq but with the ATI in it - it
goes
> to the ATI first. Im think I could boot up then put the ATI in but
Im
> concerned that putting a graphics card in after its powered up may
> damage something. The other is - will WINFLASH find a card thats
not
> being used?

I am curious, why did you flash the bios in the first place? Do you
do this kind of thing often?
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On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 11:30:32 GMT, no.DeleteThis@spam.invalid
(dannysdailys) wrote:


>I am curious, why did you flash the bios in the first place? Do you
>do this kind of thing often?

Flashing video card bios is a fairly common thing to those
who are both 1) Gamers 2) Able to do it.

For economic reasons many cards (except the highest end
models) use an underclocked GPU to fill the mid and lower
end product lines... they artifically limit performance so
these lower priced cards don't devaluate the more expensive
ones. One of the limitations in such a situation is what
quality (speed grade and type of) memory was used, as that
often ends up being a bottleneck.
 >> Stay informed about: Bad Flash - dead ATI card anyone know how to fix it? 

<john.RemoveThis@smith.com> wrote in message
news:d8c0o15ih8nbph7pge8i6k4chpa0j7d91b@4ax.com...
> I wish you could do it in bios. They should make that mandatory.
>
> Unfortunately all there is like many boards is a ONBOARDVIDEO/AGP
> ---YES or NO. I assume they mean onboard and AGP OR PCI.
>
> I guess Ill look for one on EBAY for 10-15 bucks. The other thing I
> have to worry about is some old PCI cards just dont work. I had an
> ANCIENT PCI ATI card from the 90s that never seemed to work at all in
> any of the system I tried them in a few years ago.

The trick I heard of was to put a in a good bios, boot up with it, swap in
the bad bios while it's running and flash it. Not sure if the 2 cards you
have are similar enough for that though. This works in motherboards because
the bios is copied to ram but I'm not sure if it would work in a video card.

The other option is to get someone to flash the bios in an flash programmer.

Michael
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john RemoveThis @smith.com wrote:

> I thought of that but Id like to get specific info on it to do it.
> There is a non win flasher that might work. So far Im not coming up
> with anything in Google. The only obvious thing that comes up is use a
> PCI card.

Have you asked in the forums of www.wimsbios.com , www.rage3d.com , or
www.3dchipset.com ? I got hits there by Yahoo searching "ATI flash",
and lots of people use a DOS flasher to upgrade cards the way you were
trying.

> I think I can get a PCI for $10 or so on ebay

Can't you find a graphics card from an old computer at the office or in
a dumpster (apartments are good)?

You should be able to get by with a really old PCI card because my
vintage-1996 S3 Verge and S3 Stealth cards worked with an ECS 755-A2
mobo (socket 754). OTOH my Cirruslogic 5430(?), made a year or two
earlier, showed nothing but a blue cursor, I think even with some
Socket 370 mobos.
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<john.DeleteThis@smith.com> wrote in message
news:7vf0o11tg643dbebjfogiejrvp6ctsodrg@4ax.com...
> I actually have another 9600XT card. But whats the chance of damaging
> your card and board trying to plug a card in while its running, thats
> what I want to know.
>
> Come to think of it not a good idea. Theres weird lock on the AGP slot
> on my lame SIS chipset COMPAQ board and the way the case is designed
> its also very hard to slide the AGP card out. Theres a huge chance Ill
> be bumping around the card while trying to remove and install it which
> may cause a short in the slot.

I'm not suggesting changing the card, I'm suggesting changing the bios chip
while it's running. As long as you don't short anything out you shouldn't do
any damage. Just loosen the bios chip but keep it plugged in, boot up with
the good card, change the chips and flash. I'm presuming the bios chip can
be removed.

Michael
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On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 03:36:05 -1000, "john@smith.com"
<john.RemoveThis@smith.com> wrote:


>>I'm not suggesting changing the card, I'm suggesting changing the bios chip
>>while it's running. As long as you don't short anything out you shouldn't do
>>any damage. Just loosen the bios chip but keep it plugged in, boot up with
>>the good card, change the chips and flash. I'm presuming the bios chip can
>>be removed.
>>
>>Michael
>>
>
>Dont see one on this card. I assume its under the massive heatsink.
>That would be an interesting idea if the chips were similar.
>

Some cards are now using very small EEPROMs soldered
directly to the board. Naturally they're not reasonably
swappable.

Don't try to swap cards while system is running, it could
damage one or the motherboard.

Does the system boot with this bad-flashed cards in it? If
so, see if you can get a bios flashed with a DOS command
line argument executed from a floppy or thumbdrive.

I don't think there is any way to use the onboard AGP video
while a card is still in the AGP slot, except "maybe" if the
card had no bios at all on it, and even then I'm not
confident it would work. Try to get a PCI card if you can't
flash the bios with a command line argument.
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