vBios update question

Alright so I really want to update my vBios.

Thing is, I don't have a reliable flash drive to do it with.

What I do have is an SD card plugged into a USB converter.

Can I use this to do update my vBios or do I have to use a USB drive?

Thanks.

 

is this only available to ATI Cards now or is there one for nVidia chip?

 

It's only ATI Cards.

The ATI version of the G73 has an issue where you get Grey Screens of Death (GSOD) If you update your video drivers without updating your vBios.

Can someone please answer my question?

 

From all the firmware updates and bios updates I have done in the past I would only do it from a USB, I am not saying the way you are trying it wont work, I know USB drive will work for sure.

 

Yeah, I don't have a USB drive I can trust right now.

That's why I was wondering if I could use a SD card hooked upto a USB converter.

 

Using a USB flash drive for flashing bios or vbios (usually formatted with Fat32 for bios flashing) is the safest thing to do as I've learned here at NBR.

I've flashed my bios from 206 to 211 using USB flash drive and it didn't bricked my G73JH. Just be sure that you flash using EZ flash at bios and NOT WinFlash as WinFlash has high chances of bricking your beast just what happened to others.

 

I already bricked my first G73 using EZ Flash.

My question is if a SD card hooked upto a USB converter will let me flash the video BIOS

 

How come you bricked your G73 using EZ Flash? What went wrong?

 

Dunno.

Everything went fine, completed 100%. Rebooted and fans and lights turned on but no picture.

 

What about the file system of your USB flash drive you had used before you bricked it? Fat32 is the recommended for flashing Bios and it didn't bricked mine when I flashed to 211 from 206. Maybe you have used NTFS instead of FAT32 on EZFlash?

 

I'm pretty sure I used FAT32.

This was months ago though and I got a brand new replacement from best buy.

I'm gonna go out tomorrow and get a better Flash drive.

 

I remember when I did my flashing of bios from 206 to 211, that I formatted my USB flash drive with FAT32 using the HP USB tool found on the Gary Key's post http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/515309-how-fix-your-gsod-blues.html.

 

I've done 16 vflashes, and 4 bios flashes off of my bootable USB 8G Flash just this weekend

 

ca you post your impressions? your testing
and what final clocks are you using

ofcourse and the baterry life in baterry mode

 

my battery settings are the same, so 100/150, 300/400 performance, so still the same performance. (1 full run yielded 2hr 45 min)

My AC and UVD memory settings I upped to the default 1000. This way if you watch vids, the screen will not flicker. 700/1000, 400/1000 x2

 

0.85V on baterry?
did you tried lower volts
in ruckenmark's post there are people undervolting to 0.1 and even to 0.001
is this true?
and btw when is baterry performance activating?

 

there's a minimum the card will allow for an undervolt, despite the firmware settings, just like we cannot overvolt past 1.15v.

 

aaah you are not giving me the real answer and to all my questions ...always going in circle
nvm

 

Your questions?

No one has yet to answer MY question in the original post!

Jeez..

 

I do not believe you can get the memory card to be bootable, so this would present a problem. I would suggest getting a new USB flash drive, as a 2G or 4G unit are cheap these days.

 

sorry but that's not really a question
when you turn your computer pres ESC to open the boot menu
and if it shows your Memory card then you can update your vbios if not find a usb memory stick
in 21 century every second person has one...

 

Alright thanks Chastity.

Mods can close this now

 

So whats the lowest undervolt allowed?

 

i just wrote it into my thread.

when you go under 0.9 V catalyst wont show you the current clocks. and if you underclock like this for the performance mode you will get gsod´s.

and if somebody write here that his g73 is running on 0,002 V than please just dont think about it

Chastity has 0,85 V @ 100/150 mhz you can try it, it will run stable even if you set the voltage to 0,001 V but the card wont allow this even if gpuz shows what you entered.

i tested many configurations and 0.9 V runs stable and without errors for me.
im not sure anymore as i checked 0,85 V @ 100/150 mhz (but i think i did) so i dont want to say anything against her vbios, but if you want to be on the secure side, 0.9 V should definitely work.

 

so the limit is from 0.8v to 1.15v ? or lower

 

I think it is 0.95, 1.05(Boot clocks only), and 1.15. Anything else will not work.

 

so i guess i am fooled by the 0.85V (100/150)
actually it runs at 0.95V?

 

Assuming what AMD Clock Tool reports is true, then yes. I've seen it report 0.9V before when set to 0.8V, but when setting it to 0.9V it reports 0.95V, weird.

 

don't know if it was you but in ruckenmark's thread there was a picture
supported voltage 0.001 ...
how can i see the real present voltage i am using

who cares i still have more baterry life then before

 

In AMD GPU Tool, under the Voltage area. The part that says VDDC: should be the actual voltage the GPU is drawing right now.

 

that's always 1.1500V

 

http://pcaudio.ath.cx/crap/100-150-85.jpg

http://pcaudio.ath.cx/crap/100-150-85-2.jpg

 

@ Chastity, so whats the lowest voltage thats supported so I can set in my custom vbios? as amd gpu clock tool now always reports 1.15 no matter what im on. And im still on CCC 10.10, is that fan speed odometer apart of 10.12 or something?

 

same here... i thought i modified it like this

700/1000 1.15V for 3D app
405/1000 0.9V for 2D app
500/1000 0.9V UVD
100/150 0.85V Power Saver

but in amd gpu tool reports 1.15V

now with chastity's i get 0.9V like him but he set it on 0.85V (strange)

 

Hmm well I just flashed my vbios two more times, only changing the voltage on battery saver, up to .8 the first time, clock tool reported 1.15 still, then .9 the second time, and still 1.15...however when I change into high performance mode, it goes to 1.05??? Something is not right here lol

oh and Chastity is a women

 

i tried couple of times too
so her vbios goes from
400/1000 @ 0.95V (1.1500 in gpu clock tool)
to
100/150 @ 0.85V (0.900 in gpu clock tool)

when i've tried going from
405/1000 0.9V
to
100/150 0.85V
in gpu tool clock showed me 1.1500


so my thoughts from all of this are that going from 0.95V to 0.85V in GPU tool clock it will show you current voltage 0.900V

and btw thanks for the info about chastity
she never told me ... but i asked


and btw i've noticed this too
clicking on the start button clock jumps from 400/1000 to 700/1000
also when clicking on windows live msn from the taskbar does the same too
what is this people
very bad vbios???

 

Wasn't it reported that AMD GPU clock tool reports the voltage rather inaccurately?

My voltages are set at 0.9v-1.15v and GPU-z and GPU observer reports them correctly, except for AMD GPU clock tool which constant sets it at 1.15v. (For me anyways)

Sounds like it detected 3D and clocked up.

 

and what if you set them to a nonsense voltage (0.1v for example)
will it show that number? in gpu observer or gpu-z
it is not like it is locked to 1.15.. i've got it now to 0.9
i don't know...i am done with testing

yours will jump too(clocks) clicking on the start button try it.... when plugged in

 

sorry for bump, but what really does the upgrade in vbios add exactly? because i am using CCC 10.10 on the stock vbios without any problems, bios 2.09 (BB Model rbbx-005 G73-JH, i think).

 

then don't worry about the update

 

gpu observer and gpu-z are showing the vbios-values, not more. You don't have a real info, what voltage is currently used by the card. This is hardware locked. The Asus-5870m only knows 2 voltages (0.95 and 1.15). You can set what you want in vbios, the card rounds the value next to 0.95 or 1.15.

This just happens with Overdrive enabled only!
I've also tested some overclocking through Overdrive (750/1000) and saw up and down clocking while resizing windows or other 2D stuff.
Disabled, and no more jumping frequencies.

edit:
amd clock tool reports some voltage, but doesn't know what.
Maybe you will see your voltage in the dropdown. But it's senseless, since you can't set voltage with this tool.
All clock changes also ramps up the voltage to the value of clocksetting 0 too!
So no powerplay till next reboot.

 

no i had vbios with unlocked overdrive but disabled
now i've tried locked overdrive and still the same ...sometimes frequencies jumpes to 700/1000 and then go back to 400/1000
about the start button that was from window blinds ...it was thinking i was opening a 3D application
but if you had installed WINDOWS LIVE MESSENGER 2011 and i have set compatibility mode vista service pack 2 so when i click on the close button it will go to the system tray
after that when i want to bring back the main window from the taskbar i just double click on the icon in the system tray and it jumps to 700/1000

another simple example:
i've opened adobe photoshop CS5 and monitored the frequency and it jumped again to 700/1000...and after 2 seconds went back to 400/1000


i believe there are lots of applications or doing different stuff that jumps the frequency... do you think this is normal???

 

I've modded the overdrive enabled vbios. I hate regimentation.
Just for testing i unlocked overdrive in CCC and set it to a higher clock. All that worked flawlessly. But then I saw the jumping to higher clocks while resizing windows or opening other windows. Thats silly.
After that i disabled overdrive again and the clock change is gone.
Maybe this Windows Blinds uses some directx functions and interupt the card.

 

You do know you can change Windows Visual Styles without any 3rd Party programs right? Can change everything.

 

I don't use windows blinds, mite_jan was speaking about.
I'd been using such style tools for fancy bounce buttons in Windows XP.
On most W7 machines, I disabled Aero too.

 

leave windowblinds out of this
i explained 2 more things ...
can you confirm those?
i am monitoring all the time with everest
i have set OSD always on top and when it jumps i can see it right away
hmm i will try to kill wbvista process somehow but it is giving me acces denied
both of you can try opening photoshop and windows live messenger or else and see if the clocks will jump so i will have nothing to worry about
and btw Ruckus windowblinds does magic on my computer that's why i am using it (see below examples)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/504138-post-your-g-series-desktop-2.html

EDIT: i've killed wbvista process and it was not clocking from it
IT IS THE VBIOS