M15X 5870HD Upgrade. Having issues! 256Bit collors, Vbios? Version?

EDIT: FIXED.

The fix: When you install the new HD5870 videocard, from Dell. You need to downgrade the bios in the videocard since it had been scaled for the M17x.

Below, there is a post that has two links. Follow those links/guides its very easy.

Thanks all!


I have bought a Dell alienware M15x videocard from eBay. It arrived in perfect condition, new in anti static bag.

But, when i boot, the alienware skull is in 256bit collors, so is the boot screen, the windows load screen, everything. When I shut the laptop down, for 1 to 2 seconds all the icons on the desktop turn normal, but that is the only occasion.

I found out you had to downgrade the bios, because mine was A09, the A05 version should have worked, but it did not.
This was the bios of the LAPTOP, Not the Videocard. ATI flash is telling me that current versions are:

DeviceID: 0c68a0
Rash type: PM25lv010

Current Bios:
Image Size: 0XF000
CRC: 0x8A00


It runs benchmarks ok, temps are all ok. The thermal pads are applied ok on the memory chips. The only thing that's wrong is that all the colors are wierd.

Do I need to flash the bios of the videocard as well? Is there a propper guide?, because I killed my last 5850 by bricking it.
What version is known to work propperly? Please help me, this problem is going on for 2 weeks now with my laptop and it is driving me nuts.

Thanks so much.

 

It might be the vbios. Your new 5870M may have arrived with vbios A01, which was an upgrade applied for M17x-R2 cards back when the 5870M's were the leading mobile GPU. Those 5780M's are compatible with the M15x, but the vbios A01 is not. The cards have to be flashed back to A00 to work properly in the M15x. However, the symptoms are somewhat different; with A01, the M15x screen tends to be corrupted, sometimes with muddled colors. It sounds like your video is working, but it's using the Win 7 VGA device. That generally just means there are no drivers installed for your card, which is an easy fix. You want the A09 system BIOS, not A05 (that may have been the first one to include the 5850M, which also allows the 5870 to work, but so do all later versions).

Are you able to boot into Windows and the only real problem is the screen resolution and color depth? What card was previously installed? If you'd answer those questions, we'll know how to proceed. It should not be difficult to identify and resolve the issue(s). If you had real trouble, you wouldn't even be able to boot.

 

I am able to boot, run benchmarks, the only problem is that the collors are strange all the way from posting to loading windows & desktop. They are not off, it looks like artifacts with 256Bit mix or something. Previous card was the 5850 from dell as well. (This new 5870 is a dell card as well.)
I will upgrade the system bios to A09 again, but I want to have this videocard working first.

I have no drivers installed, I did, but they had no result, and since its not displaying post properly I did not think this was a driver related issue.

Temps are fine.

 

Have you tried to do a clean install of the Dell drivers (for the 5850M), i.e., after removing the drivers for the prior card, running Driver Sweeper in safe mode to remove all remnants of the old drivers and then cleaning out old registry entries for the old card?

What was the old card?

 

I will try, but, would that effect the posting screen as well? Even the System bios is not showing correctly.
How big is the chance this video card is broken? I would be on fire so mad if that was the case, but since its running benchmarks ok I don't think this is the case.

 

It should not affect the boot screen; that sounds like the vbios problem. I doubt that the card is fatally flawed. It seems unlikely it could be doing those things if seriously defective.

What was your old card? Installing AMD cards in place of Nvidia cards is always a bit of an adventure.

Could be both issues are present; if so, we'll fix them one at a time.

Edit: Checked the Dell M15x Driver board. There are no drivers for the 5850M/5870M still posted. I've got plenty. What drivers were you planning on installing for the new 5870M?

 

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My old card was a HD5850. I don't need certain drivers, I just want my card to work. I am now downloading the drivers you said, the HD5xxx series drivers from AMD? Should those drivers matter if the post screen is doing it as well?
The best I can describe it, when i booted to save mode, the white bars above the options you get, it looked like snow on a TV that does not have signal.
Should I continue with installing the AMD/ATI drivers?

 

Probably the vbios then. You can stop installing drivers that should already be there.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/598702-5870m-messed-up-display-color.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/613206-5870m-vbios-issue.html

I think you'll find it all right there.

 

Thank you! Do you know if I can safely use a SD card to boot from as well? Since I do not have a USB stick.

 

I don't know; never tried it. How about a CD?

 

Cd will work just fine! Im going on my mission now will report back.

 

Best of luck.

 

When I want to open/instal ATIflash, it tells me that I cannot open it since im am using 64 bit. Do I have to install it, and then get the 5 or 6 files from the program files/ATI flash folder? Or do I just copy winflash.exe on its own to the boot disk made with nero.

 

You need the whole Atiflash set of files -- 6 or 7 I think. Give me a second and I'll find a guide I did for the 5850M.

Check here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-5850-get-expected-results-2.html#post7350731. This contemplates a USB stick, but it's otherwise the same deal exactly. May be more than you need, but whatever you need is probably there. Some of the utilities have been updated, but it will tell you that at the D/L site.

 

Argh! This card is really a tough one... I was planning on upgrading mine.. but now I think otherwise

 

I cant open the ATIflash.exe, its just telling me that I cant open the .exe file since i have a 64 bit operating system. Do you have to convert it to a iso and then open it trough magiciso or something?

Can I use any other program then ATIflash? Whatever I do i cannot open it.

 

It's a DOS program, so it won't run under Windows at all. That's why you need a DOS bootable CD or USB stick. After you create the DOS boot disk, you copy the atiflash files to the disk, along with the vbios to be flashed. If this is new for you, take your time and read that guide so you know what you're going to be doing. It is possible to flash a vbios from within Windows, but the better practice is to flash from DOS.

I'll check on you in the morning. I have to stop for the night.

 

But, how can you copy the ATIflash files, from the folder to the boot device in windows, if its a DOS program which you cant open in windows? I have one file, ATIflash.exe, is that the file I have to add to the boot device? Cant i just flash it from windows?

EDIT: The atiflash.exe is ONE file, and not 7! My videocard is running, need to install some drivers now.

thanks!

 

Good job! Rep+ to u both

 

Good job, Highvoltache. Glad you've got it working. Enjoy your new 5870M.

 

I am having this same exact issue with my m15x. My 5850 died and i replaced it with and 5870 and the colors are all jacked. Gonna flash the vbios and see if this works for me too!

 

Did the flash fix it for you?

 

usb sticks are so cheap. Simply get the smallest one. I use a 32mb (yes megabytes!) one for flashing and it does a perfect job!