Due to the increased number of BAD BIOS flashings I decide to writhe this thread which presents to the community one small but very usefull utility RamBios ver 1.5 which can save time, troubles and in some cases money to the modders.
The program allows to test practically every BIOS (not only ATI) without necessity of flashing.
Advantages:
- No risk to "kill" your card by flashing unknown BIOS
- Prolongs the life of the EPROM chip which has limited number of flash cycles
- "Bad" BIOS can be unloaded by simple restarting
Ram BIOS utility Ver 1.5 explained:
RAMBIOS [keys] [InputFilename]
KEYS: /?[???] - This message
/i[nit] - Initialize loaded BIOS
/r[om] - Load BIOS from installed board
/bu[sdev] - Define Bus/Dev for installed board
/bm - Busmaster PCI
/d[isable] - Disable RAM BIOS (board will be reinitialized)
/u[ninstall] - Unload BIOS & Reinit board
Note: keywords can be placed on any position inside the command line.
What is necessary to have before to start:
1. Boot disk (floppy) with unpacked RamBios on it
2. BIOS image of the tested BIOS
It is very important to mention that the new BIOS will only work if it has Device ID same as the adapter has. (Use RaBit to change the Device ID of the new BIOS to be equal with the adapter's present device ID and use that new BIOS as test one.)
How to test the new BIOS:
1. Boot from the floppy
2. Type the following command line: rambios /i newbios.bin press "enter"
If you still see something on your screen after loading of the tested BIOS it means that it works. With other words it is now not dangerous to flash with that BIOS. But it doesn't mean that the BIOS will work correctly.
If you get black screen after loading the BIOS is not proper for that card and you should just restart and try another one.
If you have problems with freezing of the system in DOS mode it is necessary to download and unpack on to the boot disk another utility DOS4fix which fixes a bug in DOS4GW. It is necessary to start DOS4fix prior to start Rambios (under DOS).
Download links:
http://www.overclockers.ru/softnews/17270.shtml
http://radeon2.ru/downloads/bios.shtml
The program allows to test practically every BIOS (not only ATI) without necessity of flashing.
Advantages:
- No risk to "kill" your card by flashing unknown BIOS
- Prolongs the life of the EPROM chip which has limited number of flash cycles
- "Bad" BIOS can be unloaded by simple restarting
Ram BIOS utility Ver 1.5 explained:
RAMBIOS [keys] [InputFilename]
KEYS: /?[???] - This message
/i[nit] - Initialize loaded BIOS
/r[om] - Load BIOS from installed board
/bu[sdev] - Define Bus/Dev for installed board
/bm - Busmaster PCI
/d[isable] - Disable RAM BIOS (board will be reinitialized)
/u[ninstall] - Unload BIOS & Reinit board
Note: keywords can be placed on any position inside the command line.
What is necessary to have before to start:
1. Boot disk (floppy) with unpacked RamBios on it
2. BIOS image of the tested BIOS
It is very important to mention that the new BIOS will only work if it has Device ID same as the adapter has. (Use RaBit to change the Device ID of the new BIOS to be equal with the adapter's present device ID and use that new BIOS as test one.)
How to test the new BIOS:
1. Boot from the floppy
2. Type the following command line: rambios /i newbios.bin press "enter"
If you still see something on your screen after loading of the tested BIOS it means that it works. With other words it is now not dangerous to flash with that BIOS. But it doesn't mean that the BIOS will work correctly.
If you get black screen after loading the BIOS is not proper for that card and you should just restart and try another one.
If you have problems with freezing of the system in DOS mode it is necessary to download and unpack on to the boot disk another utility DOS4fix which fixes a bug in DOS4GW. It is necessary to start DOS4fix prior to start Rambios (under DOS).
Download links:
http://www.overclockers.ru/softnews/17270.shtml
http://radeon2.ru/downloads/bios.shtml
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