GPU Bios Flash Failed

extr3me

March 8, 2009 6:43:06 PM

Hi,

I have a little problem with my GPU. I have flashed my GPU few times in order to adjust fan speed using ATI bios editor. After 10 times or so i got an error message saying that ''flash failed, check if you are using proper adapter''. I restarted my pc but it won't start, shows black screen. You don't have to be an expert to realize that this was caused by unsuccessful GPU BIOS flash

. The question is, do I have to buy a new graphics card or can it be fixed somehow. If so, can I do it by my self or a specialist help is needed. Thank You.

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dougie_boy

March 9, 2009 9:18:46 AM

extr3me said:

Hi,

I have a little problem with my GPU. I have flashed my GPU few times in order to adjust fan speed using ATI bios editor. After 10 times or so i got an error message saying that ''flash failed, check if you are using proper adapter''. I restarted my pc but it won't start, shows black screen. You don't have to be an expert to realize that this was caused by unsuccessful GPU BIOS flash

. The question is, do I have to buy a new graphics card or can it be fixed somehow. If so, can I do it by my self or a specialist help is needed. Thank You.

Sounds like you could try blind flashing the card. google it for further details but a short guide is below.
rule of thumb for BIOS flashing, if you can live with out doing it try not to, use a software voltage controller. seems a tiny bit OTT for adjusting the fan on an ati card. just use the cat controller in windows.

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extr3me

March 9, 2009 10:26:30 AM

Thanks for the info.

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outlw6669

March 9, 2009 11:13:27 AM

In the future, when you flash your GPUs BIOS from Windows and it fails, DO NOT reboot!
You can immediately reflash it from Windows with no issues.
While I was varying/testing my overclocks on my pair of 4850s I must have failed flashing at least 10 times, immediately reflashing saved me every time.

At this point you have two options.

First, you can do a blind flash.
You will need a bootable USB stick, BIOS file and a bit of googling.

Alternately, if you have another PCIe 16x slot and a spare GPU, you can put your bricked GPU in the second slot, boot from the working GPU and reflash the bricked card from Windows.

Either way, it can be fixed with a little work.
Just make sure to be more careful flashing in the future.

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extr3me

March 9, 2009 6:19:34 PM

Yes it worked. Thats what i did:

1) I bought a cheap PCI video card
2) I was still unable to boot to windows in normal mode (it shows loading screen but after few seconds auto restarts) but I could boot in safe mode.
3) I uninstalled my flash faild GPUs drivers and after that i was able to boot in windows normally with both cards inserted
4) I made a boot able floppy disk, put atiflash content and my bios file into this floppy
5) Restarted and boot into dos mode.
6) Commands that i used:
a) A:\atiflash -i (to check if atiflash was able to recognize my GPU)
b) A:\atiflash -p 0 BIOS.ROM
7) I still was seeing black screen so i removed my PCI card and I succeded

There is a lot of articles about flashing from DOS but it is written in complicated manner so i had to experiment for my self a little. One thing now I know for sure: always flash from DOS (GPUs and MBs)

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