ViciousXUSMC's W90 Limit Breaker Guide

It can be a crap shoot measuring a driver based on 06 or vantage because these apps are and have been highly optimized from the time of their introduction by both ATI and nvidia for obvious reasons. My own scores stayed the same but I gained actual frame rate in most games. They also fixed a texture tearing issue I had in warhead with the factory drivers. There have been literally thousands of individual fixes that include improved specific driver support for the games that came out after the ancient (by driver standards) factory drivers and the 9.4s.

 

hi All, at the end I flashed both card´s bios with the one 800-1100 bios, then I installed the driver but my screen went black and I have to make a manual shut off. I have run 3dmark 2006 with cards at 900 600 and cpu at 2542 with 13942 score, I think I´m doing something wrong, how can I see the driver is properly installed? Do i Have to see the crossfire thing in the CCC? becouse i Don´t

Thank you very much

 

Sounds like your driver is not installed on both cards and that your only using 1 card maybe.

I would first check the device manager to see that both cards are showing and that you do not see an error on one of the cards.

Sounds like the drivers failed to install.

 

Hi vicious, in fact I have the two cards, and if I go to both properties I find E-Wrecked Bored Mod v4. Could it be wrong? would you have any other idea?

Thank you very much for your guide, I didn´t do any overclock since my old athlon xp 1600+

 

If you see both cards and both drivers it sounds like your fine, if you didnt overclock thats why your score is low on 3dmark06 its a very cpu bound benchmark.

Soon as I get my W90 back from RMA I will try to update this package with newer drivers, and better more detailed instructions.

 

If we're still talking about Windows 7 RC, I can also confirm that only 1 card works presently. Tried using stock drivers, ASUS Drivers, E-Wrecked, Mob-Modded Desktop drivers, Master / Slave, Master / Master, etc.

The 2nd card reports an error 10, that the device can't be started.

(And to Vicious, in particular, finally got by my 3rd laptop after a second DOA Happy to report everything is working perfectly under Vista now)

 

I still have a week or more before I get mine back, thats a whole month to get my first RMA, so they better be doing something special with it as thats a long wait.

 

there putting in true 4870's with out any one knowing

one can hope right?

 

now that would be a pleasant surprise!!

 

I´m very glad to ear that.

My cpu is quite overclocked a q9000@2542 mhz, i´m running vista 64, with everything in CCC set to performance, video cards at 600 900, M98-1 (with 800-1100 limits) in both bios and my score is still around 14000 .

When i´m installing the driver I have to choose for one .inf and I have two options, Which should I choose?.
What driver version should I see en CCC for direct3d if the driver is properly installed?
Another Idea about my lack of performance (I´ve seen your marks and I think that I should have at least 16000)?

Again thank you very much for supporting our troubles

 

na for 3dmark06 i got just short of 15000 need over 2.8ghz for 15k

 

YESSSS!!!! An update just came in from ati via microsoft for windows 7 rc1.. I have CROSSFIRE IN WINDOWS 7!!!!! With the newest drivers!!!!

I almost went back to vista today as I was migrating my data back to this laptop because of RMA.

I'm VERY happy now.

 

Back to Windows 7 I go!

 

I figured it was an issue ATI or MS could fix, where/what is this update?

 

Just a standard 'available update' for ATI. Driver is 4/18/09, at revision 8.612.0.0. This came in as apart of a BUNCH of other updates ( microsoft office has like 30 updates ).

So I actually think windows 7 believes the install failed, as it's still listed as an optional update. It installs, says it fails, but I then I have crossfire functionality...

whatever the case is, having the newest catalyst control center and drivers to match makes me very happy... Although it doesn't give me any additional frames in TF2 I guess I have to get some direct X games to really see the diff.

 

so if i understand good you just installed the updates found when you installed win 7? and you are sure you have crossfire?

is this the one?

http://test.catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=ati 4870 x2 8.612 windows 7

 

I didn't download it directly from microsoft, it came via automatic updates. So it would be difficult to verify with the url you provided as it just attempts a download.

In the catalyst control center it shows crossfire and detects both video cards, whereas before the 2nd video card failed to initialize.

I think these cards are pretty powerful because my main game now is tf2, and I didn't see any improvement in frame rates... Though running max settings, I don't take a performance hit at all now.

Note, I did install a master bios on both cards per vicious's instructions. I may play with the unlocked bios now but I think most games are cpu, not gpu constrained... which is a nice place to be. Should give some life to this "laptop"

 

Check in steam under system info to see if it detects crossfire. CCC says enable, but steam says only one card and no crossfire.

 

Hmm, interesting... Mine shows 2 "logical" cards. whether or not that is refering to the physical card or not is another matter.

I trust windows device manager more than the steam client, which I don't think is even supported on windows 7. Windows device manager definitely shows both cards active, and ati's windows 7 control center also shows crossfire. SO IT IS WORKING. Steam's client is the furthest from a definitive answer on this.

I always hate people who post a 1 liner like yours to threads like this. Please elaborate why you believe crossfire is not working.


Video Card:
Driver: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
DirectX Driver Name: atiumdag.dll
Driver Version: 8.612.0.0
DirectX Driver Version: 8.14.10.662
Driver Date: 28 Apr 2009
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
DirectX Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
VendorID: 0x1002
DeviceID: 0x945a
Number of Monitors: 2
Number of Logical Video Cards: 2
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Desktop Resolution: 3600 x 1283
Primary Display Size: 23.35" x 14.57" (27.48" diag)
59.3cm x 37.0cm (69.8cm diag)
Primary Bus Type Not Detected
Primary VRAM: 512 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

 

Try Vantage, i compared Vista 9.4 to Windows 7 9.5. Vista was almost double. I got both card to show fine in device manager like yours. Is one card master and one slave or are they both masters? Just run Vantage and post your scores. I want this to work just like you. I have been working on it for weeks. I install 9.5 and the 2nd card went from Error 10 to working. CCC asked to turn on crossfire. Im stumped, i didnt get a windows update. If you go into CCC what ati driver does it show (9.5 or ???). Back to the Vantage thing, Vantage also said only one card.

 

*nod* Thank you very much I appreciate the extra information, this gives me a bit to go on. I'll try vantage. I'm using the 9.4 beta ccc. I haven't tried vantage. Time permitting I'll run it over this weekend. Frankly the speed is totally acceptable at 1920x1200 for me, I'm expecting more updates to come down the line that fix this entirely.

I'm hopeful AMD is working on this pretty quickly. I think there's a huge push to get past vista.

Name ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_945A&SUBSYS_027E1043&REV_00\4&2893D9BF&0&0008
Adapter Type ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x945A), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible
Adapter Description ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
Adapter RAM 512.00 MB (536,870,912 bytes)
Installed Drivers atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx64.dll,atiumdva,atiumd64.dll,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version 8.612.0.0
INF File oem22.inf (ati2mtag_M9x8 section)
Color Planes Not Available
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1680 x 1050 x 59 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xB0000000-0xFFFFFFFF
Memory Address 0xFBBE0000-0xFBBEFFFF
I/O Port 0x0000A000-0x0000AFFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967294
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atikmdag.sys (8.1.1.899, 5.11 MB (5,357,056 bytes), 4/29/2009 3:32 AM)

Name ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_945A&SUBSYS_027E1043&REV_00\4&313962CF&0&0030
Adapter Type ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x945A), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible
Adapter Description ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
Adapter RAM 512.00 MB (536,870,912 bytes)
Installed Drivers atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx64.dll,atiumdva,atiumd64.dll,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version 8.612.0.0
INF File oem22.inf (ati2mtag_M9x8 section)
Color Planes Not Available
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1920 x 1080 x 59 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xC0000000-0xCFFFFFFF
Memory Address 0xFBCE0000-0xFBCEFFFF
I/O Port 0x0000BF00-0x0000BFFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967293
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atikmdag.sys (8.1.1.899, 5.11 MB (5,357,056 bytes), 4/29/2009 3:32 AM)

 

Oops, sorry, they are both master bios version.

 

Im pretty sure you are on 9.5 not 9.4. I check and all your info is the same as mine.

 

Take a look at this.

Ill reupload the picture when i get home. I am assuming its something to do with forum issues.

 

If I am on 9.5 ATI(AMD) needs to get their @#$% in line as the version stated in their programs is 9.4 beta.

Driver Packaging Version 8.612.1-090428a-080397C-ATI
Catalyst™ Version 09.4 Beta
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.899
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0000
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0662
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.8664
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2009.0317.2131.36802

 

does this ati bios mod still work on latest bios version of w90? or it will crap everything ?

 

Ryshark i think i know what going on with yours. I found that update in windows optional update. Thats the newest driver that comes with 9.5, but it doesnt update your CCC for 9.4 to 9.5. When i installed 9.5 both cards work and CCC enables crossfire, but games wont use both cards.

 

I see, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks madhatter. I can only hope games will be able to use both cards sooner than later... But even if it takes until windows 7 is officially released I can live with that I think. Sooo much better than vista.

This laptop hasn't crashed once in the 4 weeks I've been running it...

 

Another thing I've noticed is if I put my laptop into standby or hibernate, video performance is about 20-40 fps slower.

 

Hello, very good job vicious, however, i have just installed the windows seven OS on second hard drive and then tried your work, I have copied the ATI folder into C: and replaced all the items asked but then came my problem, impossible to run winflash... it says, run as admin followed by, please reinstall all needed files in order to proceed, when i click then on run as admin i get a black screen and i cant run the comp anymore, i have to reboot... i tried like zillion times and impossible to run this winflash prog... tried to dowload other versions of it and still same problem, need to reinstall with proper needed files???? did i miss something??? ty for your help. DOOPE.

 

Winflash is having issues for some people I guess, first of all you have to be on mains power and have 35% battery charge for it to open.

The guide is pending some new information as I just got my unit back, I am going to teach everybody how to use a faster & safer program called ATIFlash, it is included in the package and its DOS based.

I had a bad flash on my new unit with WinFlash as the new master card came with a whole new flash type that may not be compatible with WinFlash but ATIFlash handled it no problems.

 

I had a problem with it locking up my machine initially, I ended up flashing from a dos boot usb key I made a while back. After that I was able to flash from windows.... Kind of strange.

I'm on week 5 or 6 now with absolutely zero lockup issues on windows 7. M$ finally got it right. the '$' because they will probably charge an arm and a leg for this OS even though I just bought vista ultimate :/

 

spooky, I responded and then there was vicious's response

Why did you RMA your laptop? Did you overheat it or something >

 

Nope I was one of the people that had the strange desync issue in game menu's and stuff. I think it was a bad gpu.

New unit is perfect so far.

 

Awesome, mine would spontaniously reboot... New unit ( was like pulling teeth to get since they couldn't reproduce ) is perfect! I love this thing, I don't need a desktop anymore.

 

I have a theory lol, the new unit has the new flash type, while the slave has the old type.

If the bios is not compatible with the old cards with the new type, they could have done this on purpose to prevent you from ripping your master bios and putting it on the slave (for real crossfire & new drivers) I doubt thats the case, but it was just a theory that poped into my head.

Im thinking the bios is the same though, as I did not have to force flash and it has the same CRC and stuff. Chalk one up for bad luck.

But since there have been a few cases of bad flash now with winflash I would not use it to flash your master anymore.

 

OK BOSS! i wait till new lesson comes up with ATIFLASH, i live in france so if i have to RMA my lappy, im so busted.!!! So whenever ur rdy, let us all know... thanks for the good work... DOOPE.

 

yeah, that's the thing I noticed, the flash type being different.... BUT it worked perfectly in vista. So rest assured ( unless it really wasn't working per mad hatter's observation ).

 

Hello, yeah i tried it on vista and worked perfectly, i flashed the second card, but there are 3 M1 bios available? so which one to choose? and then i cleaned up the drivers with drivercleaner, rebooted and installed the last 9.5 CCC package witht he latest drivers, everything seems to be fine, got more than 16500 points on 3dmarks06 ( i have a qx9300 CPU tho), but when i open the CCC there is no option in choosing crossfire enable or not since the line doesnot even exist in the left panel!!! cheers!

 

Ah so you confirmed that it does work with Winflash, I just had bad luck.

 

Vicious,
Is it possible that Asus will ever have driver updates for the w90 , or are we stuck with forever having to flash the bios in order to install new drivers?
Will they give us a BIOS update to solve this issue?

 

They may update the driver at some point, nobody can say for sure.

Since they are so hard to make (even normally modified bios do not work) thats probably the reason they have not really bothered.

 

Hello everyone,
just a simple question, i have flashed the second card under vista using winflash, then installed the latest drivers from ATI site ( the 9.5 package). Still the CCC doesnot show the crossfire option eventho GPU-Z says it is enabled (unsure on vista 64). Now that i wanna reinstall windows seven on second hard drive, do i need to reflash the card again? because winflash is not working in windows seven? Or do i just need to update drivers since i already flashed the card in vista? thanks for your help.

 

Doopeworld, just leave the cards as master/master the normal drivers work that way and we still have to work to get Win 7 working.

I tried the newest build 7201 and could not get both cards working, I need to put more time into it though. Im not terribly worried about win 7 until it is actually released though.

 

Ok vicious, i have installed windows seven and i finally get the crossfire option in CCC, i checked it and it recognizes the 2 cards on my laptop, i did install the last package from ati driver site after first cleaning up the drivers with driver cleaner. But when i run GPU-Z it says crossfire disabled (available ) ( unsure on vista 64).... and when i run 3dmark06 i just hit 11700 points so it means the crossfire doesnot work. How can i make it available in GPUZ, therefore working in windows seven?? thanks a lot . DOOPE.

 

Is stock driver from ASUS with master/slave settings work in WIN 7?

 

Working as in it installs and you have one card working

Not 2 cards.

 

Added to Info Booth under Miscellaneous. Thanks!

 

hello, i ran 3dmark06 and i get 500 points less with stock cpu and gpu... see first result in windows seven...

[/URL][/IMG]

here is score with GPU 600/900 and CPU 3.1GHz...

 

I made the Bootable CD ISO of ATIFlash for DOS.

Like Vicious said, the new W90Vp with SST25VF512 won't work with ATI WinFlash program, by use Winflash to flash vBIOS will corrupt the BIOS and the only way to get it back working is use DOS version of ATIFLASH.



Instructions:

1: Download the ISO here:
http://www.gentechpc.com/Asus/W90VP/W90-VBIOS.zip

2: Use Nero or any ISO program to burn it into CD/DVD.

3: Restart the computer with CD/DVD in the drive.

4: Press ESC key when you see Asus logo.

5: Choose to boot from CD/DVD and press enter.

6: Here is the commands for DOS:

ATIFLASH:

-type INFO and press enter for adapter info

-type M98MOR and press enter : flash Master with Original BIOS
-type M98MOC and press enter : flash MASTER with Overclocked BIOS

-type M98SOR and press enter : flash SLAVE with Original BIOS
-type M98SOC and press enter : flash SLAVE with Overclocked BIOS