connect3d X800GTO flashing questions

[MrDudeMan]

i looked through other threads and i really didnt see anything recent or useful, so forgive me if this is a repost^10000

if the flash goes bad, can i boot with a PCI video card and flash the original back on? i know this works with PCI and AGP cards, but will it work with a PCI-E card?

secondly, i got the card a week or so ago and ive seen that people are having trouble flashing them. should i expect the same or was that just a few bad ones?

third, what all do i need to do? the techpowerup guide sorta confused me, and im not a n00b at this, but i dont want to do anything wrong.


basically, i make a ms-dos boot disk, put atiflash and the bios i want on there, boot up, load atiflash and enter the commands to put the new on, right? does it matter what the bios is called? i usually name bios files bios.bin...is that ok in this instance?

thanks a lot

 

[MrDudeMan]

ok i went ahead and just took a chance

it says "flash already programmed"

do i need to do the -f parameter to force it to flash over the old one? or do i need to someone erase it first?

 

[MrDudeMan]

ok i just did "atiflash -f -p 0 bios.bin"

it displayed a few lines of code with some memory address and also "flash programmed and flash verified" but when i get back into windows it is still showing 12 pipes

what gives? sorry for so many posts

 

[sisq0kidd]

I recently just purchased a Connect3d gto from Monarch and had the same confusion on how to flash.

Followed the techpowerup guide pefectly, except I had flashrom instead of atiflash. I wrote the command flashrom -f -p 0 bios.bin, it did it's thing and even played a little song at the end when it was done flashing.

Checked ATI Tools after in windows and it came out 16 pipes. Success!!!

If you can, go to ATI tools, hold down shift and press settings. Give us your die codes so we can tell if it's even flashable.

 

[MrDudeMan]

0xEFF3DFFF
0XFFFFF71E
0x861

supposedly that isnt flashable, but ive seen in other posts that they got it to work regardless. their numbers werent exactly the same, though.

should i try flashrom instead of atiflash?

 

[sisq0kidd]

I'm not exactly sure what the differences are, but I guess it can't hurt to try flashrom.

Hopefully it will work.

 

[MrDudeMan]

neither program will let me flash it! wtf?!

i did "flashrom -l 0" to see if the flash rom was locked and it said yes. does that mean what it appears to mean? can i not flash it unless i somehow unlock the flash rom?

 

[sisq0kidd]

Sorry Bigsm00th, I'm all out of ideas.

Maybe someone else can chime in to explain? Please?

 

[Finns14]

connect3d seemed to realize that ppl were doign this to the card and stopped them from allowing it. So if you bought it recently it might not be possible.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Finns14
connect3d seemed to realize that ppl were doign this to the card and stopped them from allowing it. So if you bought it recently it might not be possible.

yeah i read that in another thread...but someone people were still able to flash it (some of them anyway).

 

[sisq0kidd]

Originally posted by: Bigsm00th

Originally posted by: Finns14
connect3d seemed to realize that ppl were doign this to the card and stopped them from allowing it. So if you bought it recently it might not be possible.

yeah i read that in another thread...but someone people were still able to flash it (some of them anyway).

Like me! I guess I was one of the lucky few with a flashable card.

 

[AntisociaL]

I believe you are supposed to add the "-newbios" command in there or the card will keep its pipeline info even after a flash.
atiflash -f -p -newbios 0 bios.bin

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: AntisociaL
I believe you are supposed to add the "-newbios" command in there or the card will keep its pipeline info even after a flash.
atiflash -f -p -newbios 0 bios.bin

hmm i havent seen that anywhere else but ill go give it a try. i guess i can always fix it with a PCI card, right?


edit: didnt work

 

[AntisociaL]

Try using the modified flashrom instead of atiflash.
The techpowerup guide says to use it but using atiflash with the -newbios command does the same thing.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/127/2
The link for the modified flashrom is in the first sentence.

I would back up your old bios like twice I flashed my x850 pro to an xt and all 16 pipes unlocked and ran fine but I decided to flash back because of heat issues and my original bios that I saved was corrupt and killed the card. Using a pci card I have flashed it with many bios trying to bring it back to life but no luck. I think it messed up the flashrom.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Anyone tried flashing the Connect3D even though the fuse values were different from the TPUP article?

 

[MrDudeMan]

the bios is locked so it wont flash

 

[sisq0kidd]

Originally posted by: Bigsm00th
the bios is locked so it wont flash

Whoa never heard of that before.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Finns14
connect3d seemed to realize that ppl were doign this to the card and stopped them from allowing it. So if you bought it recently it might not be possible.

Did anyone else with a c3d gto take off the heatsink and see little yellow markings on one corner of the gpu? I think those are laser cuts, and yet the card still unlocks no problem. Maybe they "fixed" their laser cut process? But if it was up to me, I'd keep selling the cards that can unlock, since it seems to generate more sales for the card.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd

Originally posted by: Bigsm00th
the bios is locked so it wont flash

Whoa never heard of that before.

i dont know for sure if thats what it is, but it says "bios locked" in DOS when im trying to flash it, so i assume thats right...

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Finns14
connect3d seemed to realize that ppl were doign this to the card and stopped them from allowing it. So if you bought it recently it might not be possible.

I wonder if ATI forced their hand on that one. I mean, why would they want to put an end to the wonderful sales volume they had on that card.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Originally posted by: Finns14
connect3d seemed to realize that ppl were doign this to the card and stopped them from allowing it. So if you bought it recently it might not be possible.

I wonder if ATI forced their hand on that one. I mean, why would they want to put an end to the wonderful sales volume they had on that card.

It cuts into sales for the newly released cards...

So for instance.... the 12 pipe X800GTO's do not unlock anymore... customers will begin to realize this, and eventually settle for the newer cards, such as the 1600XT, which is a mid range card as well... Thats just my theory (if you put yourself in ATI's shoes)..

 

[HybridSquirrel]

i had success i used flashrom found here

and the modified bios found here

renamed the modded bios to newbios.bin
flashrom -f -p 0 newbios.bin

try that

edit:bought my card yesterday so you shouldnt have a problem

 

[th3count]

Maybe you got lucky and got an older edition off the shelf. i bought mine a week ago, and i am still getting the Locked error.