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Did I damage my 6950?

B

beklemmung

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 24, 2009
Messages
96
I have the Powercolor 2gb 6950 with two heat pipes. I was unable to unlock using RBE as it's a non-reference card. I then did the following process:

Step 1) Download ATI Winflash: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads..._2.0.1.13.html (The newest version has been reported to not work).
2) Install winflash in the root directory (i.e. C:\winflash)
3) Download the script to modify the bios and extract it: www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip
4) If you have a BIOS switch, set it to the 1 position (switched towards the back of the card)
5) Run ATI Winflash, click "Save" to save your BIOS, be sure to make a copy of this and save it some where safe in case some thing goes wrong.
6) Make a copy of the saved BIOS and rename the copy to "original.bin"
7) Copy the "original.bin" file to the script folder "Mod_BIOS_HD_6950"
8) Execute the "run.bat" batch file
9) Look in the folder "Mod_BIOS_HD_6950" and copy the file "modded.bin" to the folder you installed ATI Winflash in (C:\winflash)
10) Open up the command prompt (Start->All Programs->Accessories) you may have to right click and run as administrator
11) Change to the ATI Winflash directory with the command "cd C:\winflash" or what ever directory you saved it in
12) Type "atiwinflash -unlockrom 0" (the "0" stands for the first PCIe card installed, "1" will work for the 2nd card)
13) Type "atiwinflash -f -p 0 modded.bin" (the "0" stands for the first PCIe card installed, "1" will work for the 2nd card)

When I rebooted, Windows loaded but within about 3 seconds my screen artifacted and a few seconds later BSODed. I have a dual bios switch, so I shut down, flipped it to the other position (closer to the CF bridge) and logged in to Windows again, but got the same result.

I then flipped the bios switch back to the original position (away from the CF bridge), booted in to safe mode and uninstalled the card using device manager. Restarted again, booted in safe mode, and followed steps 10-13 above but used a previously saved copy of the original bios that I copied in to my Winflash folder (and substituted "original.bin" for "modded.bin"). I got a message stating that the bios successfully flashed.

However, whenever I boot Windows normally, I get the same result - near instant artifacting and then a BSOD. Once it recovered for a few seconds after artifacting, and Windows told me the display driver had recovered, but then it immediately artifacted and BSODed again.

I'm typing this in safe mode with networking enabled and I don't have any issues. However, if I boot Windows normally with the bios switch in either position, it will artifact and BSOD near instantly. Any suggestions?
 
did you uninstall and reinstall the catalyst driver? if not, this may be the issue.
 
I did install the newest drivers before trying to unlock. After the failed unlock and BSODs, I uninstalled the card and drivers with device manager while in safe mode.
 
This is why you should never use batch files on non reference cards. You never know if what you're changing is going to be correct, as the Bioses could be different. Non reference cards may or may not have the same Bios or even be compatible with a reference Bios.

I'm guessing that from what it sounds like here, that the card probably got a huge amount of volts through it for 2D clocks or something. That's the only thing I can see happening.

All you can do is use the latest Radeon Bios Editor and edit that modded Bios (the one created after the batch file) and look at the voltage tables to see what the voltages are set to. If you still have the original, you can also look at the original to see if RBE will even open it. This can be done in safe mode, or with another video card.
 
I understood the risk of flashing a 6970 bios and was under the impression that this was not what I was doing - all I wanted to try to do was unlock the shaders, that's it.

I can open the modded bios in RBE. Under the "clock settings" tab, there are five columns named "Clock info 00" through "Clock info 04." The voltage values starting at 00 are ---, 0.9, 1, ---, and blank for Clock info 04. I loaded the original bios as well and the values are the same, so as far as I understand it the modded bios didn't change any voltages.

Does the fact that I can boot in to Windows argue against the theory of a damaged card? The last time I tried Windows was able to recover from the artifacting/driver failure three times, though every time it recovered it would artifact and lock up again within a few seconds, and after the third time it BSODed.

The fact that booting with the bios switch in the "safe" position (closer to the CF bridge) has the same result frightens/frustrates me. Sigh, this is exactly the situation I thought I was avoiding but not flashing the 6970 bios!
 
No,
There are 3 clock values.
ULV, 2D and 3D clocks.
You said that you are using a non reference card.
If I recall, there were two revisions of the 6900 series cards, and I think later ones used different VRMs, do you remember? I might be mixing up the 4890 and 6970 but, I recall something similar to this. If you used a Bios meant for an older revision reference card, and your board had a different architecture, that means you would have to mod the Bios yourself without using a batch file. Whenever you have a non reference card, you have to do a LOT of research to make sure the Bioses are compatible. Any type of VRM change might require a different Bios.

What I'm saying is you may have wound up putting 1.6v+ or higher into a voltage register due to differences...it's just a guess. I could be talking out of my rear....just trying to help.
 
Sound like a voltage like Falkentyne said... or timing issues with memory... I have the same card... when I unlocked my shaders I moved the BIOS switch to the 2 spot and used RBE to unlock... no issues at all.. The 1st and 2nd BIOS on the card were different to begain with... you most likely damaged it when u flashed it with a modded BIOS that wasnt off this card... timings and voltage are way different... anyone that has tried a different BIOS (6950 or6970) with this card messes it up.
 
Well I know CCC can be screwed up too somehow, I recently had a problem with my 3 new 7970s in tri-fire. I was benchmarking and in the middle of 3dmark11 my system crashed ( cards were Max overclocked ) i rebooted and windows was jacked up, I thought I fried my cards. Got into safe mode and uninstalled drivers pit the back on rebooted with the same results. I for the he'll of it reinstalled windows and by some miracle it worked! Something was haywire from the ati driver/ CCC so if all else fails give a reinstall of windows as your last result.
 
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