2x ATi3870 Bad Bios Flash

W

Waymon3X6

n00b
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Messages
39
Hey all, long time reader here... I flashed my 2 3870s last night with a custom made bios to have the 2d, 3d and startup clocks all the same @ 777/1152 (I think that was the memory, I just know that everything is at the same stock clocks) with a bios I made with this tool: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=51337

Anyways, so I successfully flashed both cards in a dos with a bootable USB key using atiflash. Everything went fine, it told me to reboot to apply the new BIOS. So I did, and guess what, no picture! So I guess I flashed my 3870s somehow the wrong way... not to sure how as everything went fine, no error messages etc.

Anyways, I need a PCI card so I can flash the cards back and see what I am doing, but do you guys have any other recommendations before I do this? I think I will get this card: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Matrox-Myst...ryZ40160QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Pretty sure it will be compatible with a regular PCI slot, but I just want to know if you guys have any other recommendations!

Thanks a lot in advance!
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Oh my :eek: Good luck! Hope you get that fixed, those are expensive paper weights. You can usually find a really cheap PCI video card at a local retail store for <$15, might be a quicker alternative.
 
I hopu u did made backup before doing that......just flash tem with it and it will probably be OK. Did u used forced flashnig?(-f)
 
Does not help much after the damage is doned, but I wrote down the flash procedure before I made the flash. This way I could reflash the card even if I was "blind".

Anyways, you can get the original BIOS file from Techpowerup site, they have a very large VGA bios collection over there.
 
this was the procedure:

atiflash -f -p 0 HD3870.bin
*pressed enter, everything seemed ok*
atiflash -f -p 1 HD3870.bin
*pressed enter, told me to reboot and I did*

------------------------------

I was flashing the cards from a already modded bios, not the stock original. I have already found my sapphire stock bios on techpowerup and have it on my bootable usb key.

However, I cleared the cmos and therefore all my settings were set back to stock, so the computer boots from the HDD instead of the flash drive which I had set before. If I unplug all of the power cords to the HDDs and CD rom, wont the computer boot from the USB stick as that is the only bootable device the computer will see?

But yeah, I have my eye on this card: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Matrox-Myst...ryZ40160QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Will probably purchase it tonight.

Do you guys have any other recommendations that might work before I do this?
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
You could attempt a blind flash, assuming that there was an audible beep at the completion of the flash. Give it a shot, if you have the original bios handy.
 
Dude I flashed my 5900 Ultra to 5950 in dos but what you have to do is WAIT

I had the same problem as you but when I retyped the same command and let it "thaw" by going to school for a few hours it came back as 5950! Just givei t time.
 
I remember when I flashed the cards is took about 5-10 seconds for each one, but the only thing is that now when I start the computer I am not sure what is displayed on the screen. There could be an error message, or something else that wont let me get into DOS. I NEED A WORKING PCI card or something!!!!

Damn, I wish there was a clear cmos on the vga cards that reverted the BIOS...
 
What do you mean? Leave it for a while in between each flash? I dont even know if it is getting into DOS though, as there are not beeps (there never were, even when the cards worked). I have a Maximus Formula SE board, if that helps.
 
I've had cards get corrupted BIOS and I've always been able to force flash them back to the shipping BIOS from the DOS prompt.

I always use .rom extensions and I suppose that doesn't matter. I don't own a floppy and use Nero to create a boot DVD. I place ATiflash on my C drive with the BIOS I want to use. I always assign them a short name. Instead of SapphireHD3850mod. I'd just call it Saph.rom. Long names some times cause a "can't find X file" error. When I am ready to go I stick my DVD in my top drive, reboot and hit the mobo BIOS. In there I assign my DVD as the first boot device. When I save and exit, My DVD starts Dr. Dos. From there I go to my C: drive and do just what you did.

I know on my MSI K9A2 CF I can hit F11 during post and it will let me select anything I want to boot from, including a connected flash drive.

You should be able to flash your cards back to their original BIOS fine. Just force it like you did @ first. atiflash -p -f 0 <insert orignal here>.rom, then hit PCI-e 1 the same way and reboot. I have an old PCI graphics card I keep around for cases like these as well.

I am not a big fan of adjusting anything outside of memory|core clock myself. With my GTX I did alter shader clock.

Oh yes, always make sure you remove your graphics drivers before flashing a card.

I haven't tried the tool you linked too so I can not comment on it.

I flashed my MSI HD 3850 cards to a rev 1 Sapphire BIOS because the rev 2 BIOS the cards shipped with was only allowing me to set up to 730|1010 in Overdrive. With rev 1 I can select up to 770|1117. I run both cards @ 760|2038(effective).
 
Oh yes, always make sure you remove your graphics drivers before flashing a card.

Why? Do you absolutely have to? I remember I did have to uninstall and reinstall the drivers after flashing, but that was no big deal.



Is there anything else I may be able to do without a PCI video card?

Also, on my LCD poster it says "VGA BIOS" - does this mean anything besides the obvious?
 
Waymon3X6 said:
Oh yes, always make sure you remove your graphics drivers before flashing a card.

Why? Do you absolutely have to? I remember I did have to uninstall and reinstall the drivers after flashing, but that was no big deal.



Is there anything else I may be able to do without a PCI video card?

Also, on my LCD poster it says "VGA BIOS" - does this mean anything besides the obvious?
Click to expand...

Removing the drivers first is the way I learned it and the way that has served me best.

As others said you could blind flash, or that is enter the commands while having a black screen. I did that once a long time ago and vastly prefer being able to see what I am doing.

I restored an old 6800GT "blind".

I wouldn't get too excited about it, Wait for the PCI card and force flash them back to the original BIOS or an unmodded one that you know is valid for your particular card.
 
The only thing I flash a BIOS on is the motherboard, anything else follows the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!", hopefully you can find an original BIOS and restore it, good luck with that.
 
If it makes you feel any better I've only had two graphics cards get corrupted in all my time of flashing cards. I was able to restore those both through a forced flash from dos using the original shipping BIOS that came on them.

If you have the original BIOS for your card or one that is valid for it, you're fine.

I can't remember how many times I've altered the core, memory and shader clock on the GTX in my sig. I've had it since release and it's still going strong.
 
Waymon3X6 said:
What do you mean? Leave it for a while in between each flash? I dont even know if it is getting into DOS though, as there are not beeps (there never were, even when the cards worked). I have a Maximus Formula SE board, if that helps.
Click to expand...

Oh the card is fine. Trust me. What I did is let my bootcd boot after I restarted with no screen and carefully typed the command again (since it booted in the right directory/drive after booting into dos) and cmae back and voila! You just gotta wing it man. Here's to hpoing you have a good bootdisc!
 
I am using a USB key to boot into DOS, the only problem being I don't know if there is an error message that pops up, or what. I need to find a way for the computer to boot directly into the USB key, before it loads the rest of the stuff. Is there a batch program I can make or something?

Also, could I get the computer to bot directly into the USB by unplugging all of the hard drives and cd rom drives?

How would I know I am in DOS?
 
You should of only flashed one card at a time and if you were to run into problems you would of atleast had a working second card to either see the screen or to copy the bios from that and to re-flash the first one.

Personally i would never flash 2 vid cards at once, too much trouble if it fucks up.

I hope if works out for you dude and that you get your cards back up and running.

If your in the Uk, I have a good few old pci cards, nothing special, just pci vga cards with a few mb on each card.
I could give ya one so that you would get to see the screen and see what you are doing, if you need one then PM me with your addy and I will send one your way.
 
EVIL-SCOTSMAN said:
You should of only flashed one card at a time and if you were to run into problems you would of atleast had a working second card to either see the screen or to copy the bios from that and to re-flash the first one.
Click to expand...

I was wondering when someone was going to state the obvious. :D
 
Obvious or not, It would of saved him from the situation he now finds himself in.
 
EVIL-SCOTSMAN said:
If your in the Uk, I have a good few old pci cards, nothing special, just pci vga cards with a few mb on each card.
I could give ya one so that you would get to see the screen and see what you are doing, if you need one then PM me with your addy and I will send one your way.
Click to expand...

Thanks for being nice, but I live in the USA... So I guess I will have to get the PCI card from ebay.

Also regarding flashing 1 card at a time, would that even work? One card would be running at 230Mhz on the core (or whatever the 2d default is) and the other at 777... Had I known I would have some problems I would've tried this, but I thought nothing of it as the BIOS flash went flawlessly, no errors on screen after flash etc. I have flashed both 3870s about 2 or 3 times before, so I dont believe I am a noob. Just never really had any problems...
 
Dude, dont get me wrong, I aint saying your n00b, far from it, its just that personally I wouldnt flash both cards at once due to the problem you now face.

Shit happens and it could happen to anyone whether they have flashed 100 cards or only flashed 1.

As for flashing one at a time, yes its possible, the only time when you need both cards to be running at the same clocks is either in sli or xfire modes, outwith those modes your cards can act independently of each other and have totally different clock speeds.

If for some reason the cards were always in xfire mode for some reason or another, then you can always take one card out of the pc and flash the remaining one, and then take the flashed one out and put the unflashed one back in and flash that one, and then put both cards back into the pc and bobs your uncle.

Flashing although if done properly it should work out ok, their is always that chance as you have found out that it can end wrong, but its got nothing to do with you being n00b or not, if you put the proper command in and you have done it and it worked before, then I would assume its just one of those things that happens thats nobodys fault.

As I say, I hope you get your cards working again, as I would be pissed at this moment in time if I had 2 cards that didnt work due to a bad flash :(
 
Well both 3870s are watercooled and have swiftech ramsinks applied with a mixture of superglue and AS ceramique. The ramsinks would not stick to the card with the sticky tape they came with so I had to do that. Taking one card out is almost out of the question, couldn't I just unplug the power cord to one of the cards?

I just hope that the PCI card will fix everything... I hope my cards arent completly destroyed - is it possible to "brick" a card with a bios flash? I am worried by the fact that I set the all of the voltages (startup, 2d and 3d) to 1.327v as that was what I found the card used at 3d clocks.
 
Waymon3X6 said:
...couldn't I just unplug the power cord to one of the cards?
Click to expand...

It wouldn't disable the card, and more than likely it would trigger an alarm from the onboard speaker. At least, this has been my experience with other video cards.

Just wait for your PCI card. I don't think you killed your cards, if that makes you feel any better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top