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[Solved] 6970m is preventing system from POST after flashing vbios


svl7

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Solved, see the "edit" for details.

So... I just had the glorious idea to mod a very old beta vbios of an 6970m ES and try it on my card... but now there's one big problem, my system won't POST anymore. The SCROLL an d CAPS leds are blinking, which means the GPU is preventing the system from POST.

... and since it doesn't POST I can't even blind flash the card.

So, my guess is, the card is still ok, but the vbios fails completely. (I don't think the card is dead...)

Anyway, the only way I can think of to solve this, is putting the card in a system with 2 GPUs (e.g. M18x). Do you think such a system would boot with this card and allow it to be flashed?

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EDIT: Successfully reprogrammed the serial flash memory chip which stores the VBIOS, more details about the whole procedure can be found here:

Recovering a notebook GPU from a bad VBIOS flash | Tech|Inferno

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Edited by svl7
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Ok, great, thanks for the answer! Now I need to find a system to put this card in... I might have to send it to one of you guys if I don't find someone with an M18x or r2 in my area...

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@StamatisX Thanks, I will. Chances are that I can't find anyone here.

@iloveb00bs This really sucks, it's a shame there's no possibility to flash it without POSTing. Or an adapter for flashing cards... There was once a board which you could put in destkops and put MXM cards in it, unfortunately not for MXM 3.0. Something would come in really handy when doing such experiments as I just did, hahaha.

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Sorry man but M18x won't fix the problem, the card is done. The way Dell makes their systems, the system won't recognize a card with a bad flash even if you boot in with the integrated GPU because it shuts the discrete GPU off completely and even the bios doesn't see it. And if you put a dead card + working one, the system doesn't boot at all. Your only hope at this point may be a Clevo based system and see if they behave differently than an Alienware. Sorry to hear man, that sucks.

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Awww, this really sucks. It should be possible to flash it as long as you can boot DOS, but if the system wont POST with such a card in it.... damn. Hmm, I'm gonna write Kris from MXM-upgrade and see whether knows a way... I'll let you guys know.

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I took a closer look on the PCB of the 6970m, and it seems that I found the eeprom chip in which the vbios gets stored. I'd be able to desolder it and reprogram it per SPI, but I don't have the equipment (programmer, adapter, software...).

Maybe in the student electronic lab at the university... but I somehow doubt it.

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I just found the datasheet of the eeprom chip used on the GPU... maybe there's a possibility to bypass the GPU during POST, then I could try and see whether a blind flash works, but I'm not sure whether I should try it, I don't really want to finish off the card (or system) lol. :D

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Did you contact the guy that sold you the card? Can you get a refund? If not then it is worth the try since you have nothing more to loose. Have you attempted to contact AMD directly about this matter? They may be able to provide a different solution that we can't think of.

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No No NO!! You dont have to keychain it its crazy. Just get a pm25LV010 serial eeprom from your local electronic hw store or ebay...

Or desold it from yours ( i using a dremel gas solder with the heat blow tip , is not causing ESD) 2min heating gently, moving around the eeprom then just grab with a metal tweezers from its side and ez lift it up (don't forget ground yourself) get an eeprom programer (willem pcb50B) will do.

grab a vbios from save or from the net and flash the eeprom than sold it back ready No keychaining involved.....

2nd option if you got a working card, desold both eeproms make bridge outside 8 pice of wire from the card itself. Lead them it out from the case, attach the working eeprom until boot. Then hotswap-it to the incorrect one, and flash vbios. I also did that a few times :D Thats probably the ezyest and dont need to go buy fancy equipment.

You should be safe below 200c 392F over that usually they die.

if you need help pm me i did that before...

Edited by AssimilatorX
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Did you contact the guy that sold you the card? Can you get a refund? If not then it is worth the try since you have nothing more to loose. Have you attempted to contact AMD directly about this matter? They may be able to provide a different solution that we can't think of.

I'm in contact with Kris from MXM upgrade, who can reflash the eeprom, haven't got his answer about the price yet. There are also other sites on the internet which offer similar services.

No No NO!! You dont have to keychain it its crazy. Just get a pm25LV010 serial eeprom from your local electronic hw store or ebay...

Or desold it from yours ( i using a dremel gas solder with the heat blow tip , is not causing ESD) 2min heating gently, moving around the eeprom then just grab with a metal tweezers from its side and ez lift it up (don't forget ground yourself) get an eeprom programer (willem pcb50B) will do.

grab a vbios from save or from the net and flash the eeprom than sold it back ready No keychaining involved.....

2nd option if you got a working card, desold both eeproms make bridge outside 8 pice of wire from the card itself. Lead them it out from the case, attach the working eeprom until boot. Then hotswap-it to the incorrect one, and flash vbios. I also did that a few times :D Thats probably the ezyest and dont need to go buy fancy equipment.

You should be safe below 200c 392F over that usually they die.

if you need help pm me i did that before...

Hmm, I know it's crazy, but I somehow like the idea :D Hahahaha. It's a PM25LD010, haven't found them for sale (except on Chinese sites... and I can't read Chinese). Maybe there's an identical chip which would work as well, I have to investigate a bit... but anyway, the eeprom isn't defect, the problem is that the firmware I flashed on it doesn't work with my card (apparently). Also a new chip would come without any data on it, so there's still the flashing problem.

I only need to reprogramm the eeprom on my card, but I don't have all the equipment at home (programmer etc.), I'll see whether I can do it at the university.

There's no need to desolder it, if I have the programmer I should be able to flash the vbios on it by using such a clip (a version with only 8 contacts):

post-80-14494988111632_thumb.jpg

That would be a really neat solution. It's not very difficult to desolder the chip, it's one of the biggest on the board, but this method would be neat.

Would be great if I were able to do this at home, then I could do some more experiments without having to worry that I may brick the card with a bad vbios.

Maybe I can find a cheap SPI capable programmer (and software). I'll see... I don't have a lot of time atm.

Edit: @AssimilatorX: Do you know where I could get a pm25LD010? Just in case... :D

Edited by svl7
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Its has the same pinout than pm25lv010 you dont have to worry about that even if you dont find any. You can use pm25lv010 the pinout is same??? YES! ATIflash will recognize it??? YES! It has the same flash size ??? YES xxxxx010xxxxx So you OK to go.

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Its has the same pinout than pm25lv010 you dont have to worry about that even if you dont find any. You can use pm25lv010 the pinout is same??? YES! ATIflash will recognize it??? YES! It has the same flash size ??? YES xxxxx010xxxxx So you OK to go.

do you think it is fine putting pm25lv010(512 Kbit / 1 Mbit 3.0 Volt-only, Serial Flash Memory With 25 MHz SPI Bus Interface) in replace for pm25ld010(1 Mbit / 2 Mbit Single Operating Voltage Serial Flash Memory With 100 MHz Dual-Output SPI Bus Interface)? How about dual output interface? Can it be adopt to pm25lv010 if flashed program? if it does.. great news!! you can buy spi programmer + pm25lv010 for $30 not bad for recovering 500bucks 6970m.. unlike programmer for pm25ld010 that cost you $1000!! (2x6970m lol)

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Theres a lot pm25LD010... What exact labelled in your chip PM25LD010xxxxx?

Where? Couldn't find it so far, though I've only looked on some sites I know, and I might have missed it.

On the chip it says:

Pm25LD010

CE1040

HMT 22CG (or HMI, hard to read...)

Its has the same pinout than pm25lv010 you dont have to worry about that even if you dont find any. You can use pm25lv010 the pinout is same??? YES! ATIflash will recognize it??? YES! It has the same flash size ??? YES xxxxx010xxxxx So you OK to go.

Sounds good, I haven't really read through the datasheets yet, and didn't look for similar chips, but if there's an alternative it's always good to know.

do you think it is fine putting pm25lv010(512 Kbit / 1 Mbit 3.0 Volt-only, Serial Flash Memory With 25 MHz SPI Bus Interface) in replace for pm25ld010(1 Mbit / 2 Mbit Single Operating Voltage Serial Flash Memory With 100 MHz Dual-Output SPI Bus Interface)? How about dual output interface? Can it be adopt to pm25lv010 if flashed program? if it does.. great news!! you can buy spi programmer + pm25lv010 for $30 not bad for recovering 500bucks 6970m.. unlike programmer for pm25ld010 that cost you $1000!! (2x6970m lol)

I haven't really had time to look for a programmer yet, if you have specific information about a working programmer for this chip I'd be really glad to hear it.

The best solution of course would be to simply leave the chip on the PCB and reprogramm it, but if there's no (affordable) programmer which can flash this specific chip, I'll have to look into finding an alternative chip which can get flashed by a cheap programmer (which would be awesome anyway, for testing stuff with the vbios).

I'll do some research when I find time and see whether I somehow can find a neat solution.

Let me know if you have some helpful information about this, I'd really appreciate it! I'm not that experienced with programming eeproms and similar, only played around with a CPLD demoboard a bit, that's about it with microcontroller and flash stuff, lol.

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<style>.wlEmoticon { behavior: url(#default#.WLEMOTICON_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } img { behavior: url(#default#IMG_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .wlWriterEditableSmartContent { behavior: url(#default#.WLWRITEREDITABLESMARTCONTENT_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .wlWriterEditableSmartContent > .wlEditField { behavior: url(#default#.WLWRITEREDITABLESMARTCONTENT_>_.WLEDITFIELD_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } blockquote { behavior: url(#default#BLOCKQUOTE_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } #extendedEntryBreak { behavior: url(#default##EXTENDEDENTRYBREAK_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .postBody table { behavior: url(#default#.POSTBODY_TABLE_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .postBody td { behavior: url(#default#.POSTBODY_TD_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .postBody th { behavior: url(#default#.POSTBODY_TH_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } </style><style>.postTitle {margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;} .postBody {margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; }</style><style>.wlEmoticon { behavior: url(#default#.WLEMOTICON_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } img { behavior: url(#default#IMG_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .wlWriterEditableSmartContent { behavior: url(#default#.WLWRITEREDITABLESMARTCONTENT_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .wlWriterEditableSmartContent > .wlEditField { behavior: url(#default#.WLWRITEREDITABLESMARTCONTENT_>_.WLEDITFIELD_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } blockquote { behavior: url(#default#BLOCKQUOTE_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } #extendedEntryBreak { behavior: url(#default##EXTENDEDENTRYBREAK_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .postBody table { behavior: url(#default#.POSTBODY_TABLE_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .postBody td { behavior: url(#default#.POSTBODY_TD_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } .postBody th { behavior: url(#default#.POSTBODY_TH_WRITER_BEHAVIOR) } </style><style>.postTitle {margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;} .postBody {margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; }</style>I can not prove it but the interfaces for spi eproms are designed to be flexible example different OEMs able to use different eproms. Can you imagine the chaos, if an OEM wont pay +25c for a more expensive eeprom specially when they mostly using AMDs reference design?? AMD have to redesign the whole architecture? NO WAY! pin outs are the same the interface should recognize the IC Cannot say i have experience with 6970M nor i tried flashing an eprom with a clip ever... Too many circuit can cause the process goes haywire.If you look at your board closely there is usually two different eprom pin out mostly next to each other at least on my MR 5870 has 2 socket. mark them white

post-357-14494988112274_thumb.jpg

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These are two very good thoughts. About the eeprom chips on the GPU board, no, there's only one, and no free solder joint for another one.

I'll look into a programmer, hope I can a cheap one that works for my chip, or for a different, compatible IC which I can buy easily.

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Thanks, I've found this link yesterday, and I thought about trying it... Maybe I'll do it tomorrow and see what happens. I have the datasheet of the flash chip on the card and maybe I can somehow bypass the GPU at POST... would be cool.

First of all I have to check the atiflash commands again, so that I can make an autoexec.bat for blind flashing (in case it works).

That was a slow post... I haven't seen it when I posted the other reply, weird.

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