Looking for someone who knows how to recover from bad flash and has R423 card

[ShadowFlare]

Does anyone here who knows how to recover from a bad flash (preferably has experience with this) have a card with an R423 chip?

I'm looking for someone who will try out something for me. I've found that R480 chips are backward compatible with bioses from cards having R423 chips, but I'm wondering if the bios compatibility goes both ways. Thus, I want someone to try flashing the bios for an R480 to a card with an R423 chip. Be sure to lower the speeds to your card's defaults by using RaBiT first before flashing. If the bios flashing goes well, post 3dmark scores from before and after the flash.

-EDIT-

Apparently, identifying a card with an R423 chip as having an R480 does work, but does not change performance at all. Look at my post on the third page for more info: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=44951#post44951

[ShadowFlare]

Actually, it looks like an R423 bios can be modded to an R480 bios simply by changing the ID of the card in the bios to one of any card with an R480 chip using RaBiT. Since that is the case, it seems that this may only be something that changes what it is used in the driver. Based on this, I'd say the likely reason people have had problems flashing from an X800 series bios (with R420/R423/R430) to X850 (R480) is because of clock speeds that are too high or possibly even incompatible memory timings (but not as likely).

Anyone want to test my theory? :) Remember to get your 3dmark score before and after and then post it. ;)

[ShadowFlare]

Will anyone test this for me? You actually won't even need to use the bios from an R480 card, just use RaBiT modify the ID for the card to something like 5D4D (ID for X850 XT PE), 5D52 (ID for X850 XT) or 5D4F (ID for X850 Pro). This will not change your clocks or memory timings to the ones for those cards. AFAIK, it should only change which driver is used, so it may possibly make the ATI video driver for Windows unusable until you flash back, but I think it is fairly unlikely that the card won't work at all. Even if the driver doesn't work after flashing, the failsafe driver in Windows still would work.

If anyone tries this, please post 3dmark05 or 03 scores from before and after.

Sorry for triple posting (bumping the topic twice), but I do want to find out whether this works or not, and if it does work, whether it makes performance better, worse, or if there is no change.

[ryboto]

i can check it out when i get home, which will be in several hours...

[k62]

maybe it´s the device id that makes the difference also in my case with the tempsensor and fan speed control?
the device id for a x800se AIW is 4A4A
and for x800xt AIW 4A4B
whats the device id for a R481 card? (x850xt agp)? and the PE version? ithink its 4A4C

is a x850xt faster than a X800xt at the same clockspeeds?

[ShadowFlare]

I just wanted to mention that if you try this, just as with just about any video bios flashing, you may want to have a PCI video card available just in case something goes wrong.

[ryboto]

which hardware ID should I try if i've got an x800pro agp non-vivo?

[ShadowFlare]

According to the inf file for the driver; 4B4B is X850 Pro, 4B49 is X850 XT, and 4B4C is X850 XT PE. Those are the IDs for the AGP R481 versions. To have those names actually show up, the subsystem ID must be set to 0002 and the vendor ID set to 1002, otherwise it will just say "RADEON X850 Series" for any of those.

Make sure that when you flash that you also have the bios you were using on the floppy disk or cd, just in case Windows won't start. That way you can flash back without needing a PCI card if it still works but won't work in Windows.

[Thermopylae_480]

I would like to see someone try this, but I don't have a PCI card or enough balls:laugh: .

[Vrgn86]

I have a BBA X850PRO AGP, Flashed to 16 pipes, xt speeds
xt timings (except"MEM_REFRESH_RATE
could not find value in rabit) and XT DEVICE ID 4B49, Subsys ID 0312, Subven ID 1002,
Cats 5.10a and it "see's" it as
an BBA X850 XT! In cats control panel and device manager.

[Steevo]

I have a X800GTO, and PCI card. And enough balls. Why not? The card can be RMA'd back to newegg, and it won't be the first card I have had flash bad. Prolly won't be the last either.

[ShadowFlare]

I have a X800GTO, and PCI card. And enough balls. Why not? The card can be RMA'd back to newegg, and it won't be the first card I have had flash bad. Prolly won't be the last either.
What brand of GTO was that? What kind of chip is detected? If it isn't R480 (PCIe)/R481 (AGP), then you could try this if you want. Just use RaBiT modify the ID in the bios for the card. For PCI Express, use 5D4D (ID for X850 XT PE), 5D52 (ID for X850 XT) or 5D4F (ID for X850 Pro). For AGP, use 4B4B is X850 Pro, 4B49 is X850 XT, and 4B4C is X850 XT PE. To have those names actually show up, for AGP the subsystem ID must be set to 0002 and the vendor ID set to 1002. The values for subsystem ID to have the name show are different for PCI Express and I don't have them available right now, but you can find them by looking in the .inf file for the drivers.

[Steevo]

Sapphire X800GTO AGP 256MB DDR3 Infineon.
R430 Core (I looked) originally seen as a R423 core by BIOS.
You changed it to a R430 core, but the BIOS I believe shows it as a X800 series still and will not allow the last 4 pipes. A X800XL Bios actually has the X800XL shown in the BIOS.

[ShadowFlare]

Sapphire X800GTO AGP 256MB DDR3 Infineon.
R430 Core (I looked) originally seen as a R423 core by BIOS.
You changed it to a R430 core, but the BIOS I believe shows it as a X800 series still and will not allow the last 4 pipes. A X800XL Bios actually has the X800XL shown in the BIOS.
OK, then if you want to try this out for me, modify the hardware ID in your bios with RaBiT according to what I mentioned above then flash the modified bios. Just make sure you use one of the IDs for the AGP version (4Bxx).

[Steevo]

Here I go........

[Steevo]

Allright @ssholes :D


Flashing a modded BIOS to my card, with the pipes unlocked, a different subvendor 1002 ATI and using the actual X800XL AGP 4A4B I unlocked the last 4 pipes on this card.

X800GTO AGP by Sapphire R430 core.

And I upped the speeds of the core and memory to clost to the max I have found. The driver is the basic driver that XP installs when it finds new hardware. I am going to stop here and re-install the drivers and see what I find.

[ShadowFlare]

Allright @ssholes :D


Flashing a modded BIOS to my card, with the pipes unlocked, a different subvendor 1002 ATI and using the actual X800XL AGP 4A4B I unlocked the last 4 pipes on this card.

X800GTO AGP by Sapphire R430 core.

And I upped the speeds of the core and memory to clost to the max I have found. The driver is the basic driver that XP installs when it finds new hardware. I am going to stop here and re-install the drivers and see what I find.
So you have 16 pipelines on that card?! BTW, had you tried using RaBiT to make it identify as an R481 or did you not try that yet?

Post a new picture of your fuses data in the fuses data thread along with the name of the card and also a picture showing the number of pipelines. :)

[Steevo]

ATI Drivers and Omegas don't want to install.


I am going to look around summore.....

[ShadowFlare]

It sounds like you may have an invalid ID set. What did you use for the 3 IDs?

[Steevo]

Device ID 4A4B
Subsystem ID 1600
Subvendor ID 1002

Flashing it back to 554D and the rest the same re-locks the 4 pipes again. :(

[ShadowFlare]

Device ID 4A4B
Subsystem ID 1600
Subvendor ID 1002

Flashing it back to 554D and the rest the same re-locks the 4 pipes again. :(
554D? I thought you said your's is AGP? BTW, what type are you trying to mod the bios to? The only one that matches with 4A4B in the driver is subsystem 0002, subvendor 1002. That would make it an X800 XT.

Oh, I just realized something. Is 554D for the ID the default on your card? Maybe it actually has that PCIe to AGP bridge chip.

[Steevo]

It is AGP, and that is what was included in the original BIOS.

If I put in the above values it identifies as a R420/M18 core with 16 pipes.

I have found that 4A4A is also the same R420/M18

[Steevo]

I am going to try 554D, 0002, 1002

[ShadowFlare]

Maybe also try 5D4D (ID for X850 XT PE), 5D52 (ID for X850 XT) or 5D4F (ID for X850 Pro), with subsystem ID set to 0812 and vendor ID set to 1002. :)

[Steevo]

Tried them, it appears as any of the above devices, however in the actual RaBit it keeps showing Radeon X800 series (R423)

12 pipes on all the above tries. I believe there is some sort of extra precaution in the BIOS to prevent you from fubaring the card too bad.

[Steevo]

OK, when i use atiflash -i it shows 0 and 1 adapters in the system.

Device 1 is a RV423, no matter what flash, etc...
BUT, I have it identifying as a X800XT PE and R480 BIOS according to everything else. And it is keeping 5D4D, despite any other flash I apply. I am believing that there is some sort of mechinisim to keep you from downgrading the BIOS, at least on this card.

I had success using 4A4B as one of the first flashes, and gettting the 16 pipes, but no driver would install. I believe that was due to a bad subvendor-subsystem ID.

By looking through the *.inf files for installation, you can find groups of ID's to try, and so far I can tell my card it is a 7000 and it still works, not well, but it works. When I say that I can tell my card that, I am flashing the BIOS to adapter 0.

Now for the next part I need a utility to completely erase the BIOS on this card or that will allow me to flash a BIOS of nothing but 0's.

[ShadowFlare]

Do you have 3dmark 2005 (or 2003)? If so, and you have had the card working with it identified as an X850 card, try testing performance with a 55xx ID (R423/430) compared with a 5Dxx ID (R480). After testing it, post the scores for each. As far as I know, the scores should be different between the two different types of ID's, but I don't know which will be faster.

[Steevo]

It is the same with oth BIOS's.

4970 ish. OC'ing is the same. It works and looks the same.

as i said before I am going to try and run through all the ID's and find a set that will work with the 4A4? card ID, and also try to get the GD BIOS to change. Even if it means overwriting the BIOS and possibly damaging the card. i want to have those 16 pipes.

For ANYONE out there, if you have a X800XL with infineon memory, PLEASE post your BIOS for us.

Thanks.

[ShadowFlare]

So no speed change when changing from R423 to R480 in the bios? That's in line with what someone else tried: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=6430

They got no performance boost from changing the ID from that of an R423 to one for an R480. Before that, they actually even tried the bios from an X850 series card and it worked. They did get lower overclocks, too, which is just like when I tried to use certain X800 series bioses for R423. The difference could possibly be just a result of different memory timings being used, though.

It looks like it is safe to at least identify a card as having an R480 and maybe even use the bios from a card with an R480 as long as you keep the clocks low enough.

[locoty]

I try to flash card with R480 with the bios from 423. the only problem is the card has '!' sign in the device manager and isn't recognized by atitool

[nullie]

I did some testing with my card and found out that it appears to be locked to a BIOS with a device ID of 5549. I took the cards original BIOS and made changes to the IDs and the card simply would not work (wouldn't activate the monitor on boot up, etc). Then I took an XT BIOS and changed it to have the same IDs as my original BIOS and it worked (this BIOS wouldn't work before the changes to the IDs)! Unfortunately it didn't unlock the extra 4 pipes, though.. what does this all mean exactly? I've never heard of someones card having hard locked device ID.. btw. I've attached a screen shot of ATITool.. I need an explanation of it as well, like if it will ever be possible to unlock the extra 4 pipes on this card. (note: I haven't been able to unscrew the heatsink from my card, so I can't check to see exactly what core it is, or if it's been laser cut.)

[YYKK]

I have the very close Video Card here: Sapphire X800 GTO 256 AGP (400 / 490).

I think not many ppl bought this card cus his brother GTO2 . But still I would really like to mod it either way. My core shows a R430 with ID :554F on ATItool 2.4 (dont know if I should use 2.5 beta 8 ?)

At this point with the forced stock cooling i can OC to 440/540 until Artif.

Anyway I am thinking to pencil mod it since it has a simlar to excact likeness to X800XL. But did anyone did that? I want to gather more info on GTO R430 so my goal is to achieve(500/600) I dont know if I can do that but I just bought my 2b pencil too!

I want to try the bios thing too but I dont have pci v-card...

:toast: Everyone saying that Sapphire GTO1 is not moddable to 16 pipeline so I already forget it already. But I really want a 500hz core since my core temp is only 62 at load.

[ryboto]

So no speed change when changing from R423 to R480 in the bios? That's in line with what someone else tried: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=6430

They got no performance boost from changing the ID from that of an R423 to one for an R480. Before that, they actually even tried the bios from an X850 series card and it worked. They did get lower overclocks, too, which is just like when I tried to use certain X800 series bioses for R423. The difference could possibly be just a result of different memory timings being used, though.

It looks like it is safe to at least identify a card as having an R480 and maybe even use the bios from a card with an R480 as long as you keep the clocks low enough.

SO, what's the deal?? did you get 16pipes and the drivers working?? which set of ID's??

[ryboto]

bump
anyone, the thread owner, or anyone else, still around???????

[ShadowFlare]

bump
anyone, the thread owner, or anyone else, still around???????
I haven't posted anything else because I was waiting for others to post something. I don't really have anything to try for myself. I already have a 16 pipeline card with an R480 chip identified as such in the bios.

[ryboto]

ok, well, i was just waiting for someone to reply with a set of ID's to try. I've got a pci card in case things go bad. If I have time to install my floppy drive, i might do it tonight, or tomorrow.

[Steevo]

I haven't had time to try to hack a set of drivers to force on when it identifies as having 16 pipes. Too busy building this monster :D

We REALLY need someone with a X800XL Infineon BIOS to post the BIOS so we can work on that.

That is the new task.

[ryboto]

I haven't had time to try to hack a set of drivers to force on when it identifies as having 16 pipes. Too busy building this monster :D

We REALLY need someone with a X800XL Infineon BIOS to post the BIOS so we can work on that.

That is the new task.
well, what ID's should I use?? i've got a HIS x800xt bios, and I was going to use the ID's from that...yay, or nay?

[ryboto]

bump

[ShadowFlare]

well, what ID's should I use?? i've got a HIS x800xt bios, and I was going to use the ID's from that...yay, or nay?
What was it you wanted to do again? I can't remember at the moment and don't have time to look for it.

[Steevo]

I found this ATI PCI-E X800XL BIOS (supposedly) with Infineon memory. From my understanding it SHOULD have 16 pipes enabled.

I will have to wait till I get home to check unless someone wants to do it for me. I can also flash it to my X800GTO that has Infineon memory.

[ryboto]

What was it you wanted to do again? I can't remember at the moment and don't have time to look for it.

I just wanna know what ID's i should use that would yeild a 16 pipe card.

I found this ATI PCI-E X800XL BIOS (supposedly) with Infineon memory. From my understanding it SHOULD have 16 pipes enabled.

I will have to wait till I get home to check unless someone wants to do it for me. I can also flash it to my X800GTO that has Infineon memory.

i'd use it, but i've got an agp card, and i don't think i have infineon memory, i'm almost certain it's samsung.