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I bricked my 7970m VBIOS NEED HELP! Alienware M17x r4


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Hi guys,

So my worst nightmare happened, I bricked my GPU. I have done allot of flashes in the past with success but this time I decided to use ATIwinflash, big mistake. I always do it from DOS but I decided to take convenience over safety and I paid the price. Needless to say, my flash failed and after I restarted my laptop the screen is blank and I have no controls on the keyboard etc. I know the 7970m is bricked because when I pull the GPU my laptop boots up fine since the integrated HD4000 on the Ivybridge kicks in.

So my questions is this, is there a way to boot off the HD4000 and force flash the 7970m?? I know there is a similar process when it comes to desktop computers or Crossfire or SLI laptops. I am wondering if this is a possible work around and if so, how? I think this would be a very good thread for owners of the Ivybride or Sandybride CPU's with laptops.

Advice to anyone looking to do a vbios flash, be fully warned when flashing in the windows environment, there is way to many things that can mess up the flashing process. Always stick with DOS-based flashing when possible.

Any suggestions or feedback would help!!

Thanks!

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I was hoping that having a inter-graded GPU would work the same has having a laptop with Crossfire or SLI capabilities. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't the secondary GPU just serve the purpose of allowing you to boot up the system and navigate your way around to do a force flash on the bricked 7970m?

I just cant seem to get my m17x r4 to detect the 7970m while I am running on the HD4000

thanks,

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I was hoping that having a inter-graded GPU would work the same has having a laptop with Crossfire or SLI capabilities. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't the secondary GPU just serve the purpose of allowing you to boot up the system and navigate your way around to do a force flash on the bricked 7970m?

I just cant seem to get my m17x r4 to detect the 7970m while I am running on the HD4000

thanks,

When you are running on your Intel gpu the amd card is completely disabled and isn't visible at all. This is why you need to blind flash with the amd card being active, the procedure is described here on TI. On my phone now so can't look it up for you, it should be fairly easy to find

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The only problem with blind flashing is that the Laptop will not post when the 7970m is running as the main GPU. The laptop turns on but I dont have keyboard functions and no display. There is no signs of windows starting up so I assume the bios posting is stuck due to the 7970m vbios being broken.

When I startup with the HD4000 as the main GPU, atiflash (DOS) and Winflash (Windows) both dont detect my video adapter or (7970m). I tried doing a auto.exe on the atiflash but the same problem is that the system does not post so it does not allow the auto.exe to execute in DOS.

Is there a way to change boot priories in the BIOS? other laptops usually you can select the default to whatever you want i.e. cd/dvd, USB, HDD but on the m17x R4 it seems I cant select my own boot priorities. I just thought id give this a try even though the BIOS doesnt post it might be worth a shot anyway and see if the auto.exe would trigger, unlikely though.

If you have you have any thoughts on how to work around the laptop not posting I would be most interested.

thanks,

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The only problem with blind flashing is that the Laptop will not post when the 7970m is running as the main GPU. The laptop turns on but I dont have keyboard functions and no display. There is no signs of windows starting up so I assume the bios posting is stuck due to the 7970m vbios being broken.

When I startup with the HD4000 as the main GPU, atiflash (DOS) and Winflash (Windows) both dont detect my video adapter or (7970m). I tried doing a auto.exe on the atiflash but the same problem is that the system does not post so it does not allow the auto.exe to execute in DOS.

Is there a way to change boot priories in the BIOS? other laptops usually you can select the default to whatever you want i.e. cd/dvd, USB, HDD but on the m17x R4 it seems I cant select my own boot priorities. I just thought id give this a try even though the BIOS doesnt post it might be worth a shot anyway and see if the auto.exe would trigger, unlikely though.

If you have you have any thoughts on how to work around the laptop not posting I would be most interested.

thanks,

That's why it's called "blind flash" ;) your screen is black, so you need to do it with a black screen. boot from your usb drive and type in the ati commands.

is that really your fourth post about the same issue? O.o

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That's why it's called "blind flash" ;) your screen is black, so you need to do it with a black screen. boot from your usb drive and type in the ati commands.

is that really your fourth post about the same issue? O.o

I understand what a blind flash is....but you can't do a blind flash if your system bios does not post. Correct me if I am wrong, but if your system BIOS does not post you wont even be able to boot off of your USB or CD/DVD drive because it doesnt even get into the booting stage.

I currently have no keyboard functions, I am hitting keys and it doesnt even make beeping sounds which tells me the keys are not registering.

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If my experience can help....

I have done the same mistake as you , bad flash with this %*$£°@ Winflash ...

On my M17x-r2 the 7970M when installed prevents the Computer to post (CapsLock and ScrollLock are flashing).

I have tried to install one 5870M in first pcie port and the 7970m in the "slave" port....same result , the 7970m prevents the computer to post , so no possibility to flash it anymore...

The only solution is to solder a new bios....may i suppose you to contact SVL7 :)

Cheers !

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was able to recover my MS-16F2 GTX560M Vbios with blind flash. Would disabling the Intel GMA in bios allow for a blind flash.

As all i did was used a 128MB USB stick formated it with plain dos put the nvflash.exe (dos) on it with the backup.rom made a bat file and then booted of the USB typed in the bat file name waited 2 minutes reboot laptop and boom it worked.

Will that work on ATI. If not i can't help you with that all i can say is to anyone flashing Vbioses or bioses is to flash them in dos. Flashing with Windows is a very bad idea.

I take it you can't hot flash it either? like the good old days.

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  • 10 months later...
I was able to recover my MS-16F2 GTX560M Vbios with blind flash. Would disabling the Intel GMA in bios allow for a blind flash.

As all i did was used a 128MB USB stick formated it with plain dos put the nvflash.exe (dos) on it with the backup.rom made a bat file and then booted of the USB typed in the bat file name waited 2 minutes reboot laptop and boom it worked.

Will that work on ATI. If not i can't help you with that all i can say is to anyone flashing Vbioses or bioses is to flash them in dos. Flashing with Windows is a very bad idea.

I take it you can't hot flash it either? like the good old days.

Can you create a guide for those of us who are stuck with a bricked card? Pretty Please <3

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