9800m GT BIOS on 8800m GTX card

I have read in other forums that you can put the 9800m GT BIOS on a 8800m GTX card on some systems. I want to do this because I am experiencing the yellow screen problem and dell did not release a fix for all cards. I have a dell xps m1730.

http://support.dell.com/support/top...d=707B58E89164B8F1E040AE0AB7E131D0&doclang=en

How would I do this?

 

Download gpuz, click on the little icon that has a green arrow. Save your current BIOS as a backup.

Rename the file to "oldbios.rom" (without the quotes).

Then you need to find the 9800m GT bios (rom file).

Follow these steps to flash it:

If you get any warnings in nvflash, you can skip them by using the command:
nvFlash -4 -5 -6 newbios.rom

 

thanks for the reply.
what if i dont have the 9800m gt bios rom?
i read that i can change the device id from 060c to 060b and then i would be able to apply the 9800m update.
how would i do that?

also what are the chances of bricking my system?

 

If your notebook will boot with a dead GPU then you could just blind flash to save it.

But since you have a dell, I think if the flash goes bad, the notebook might not boot. It might just have blinking lights to show that the GPU is dead...

So there is a chance your flash could be the end of the notebook.

One thing you have to check is if your vRAM is the same as the GPU that you got the BIOS from, otherwise the flash should fail.

This means if you want to be safe, you need to open your notebook and read off the model of the Vram. Then ask the person that you got the BIOS from what model vRAM they have. You have to make sure the Vram is the same.

Is your GPU removable (MXM)?

 

i don't believe it is mxm.

 

i have a rom of the previous 9800m gt bios.
what would i want to look at in comparison to my current bios?

 

Do you know which notebook the BIOS came from?

 

yes. they came from the same notebook as mine.

 

It would be good if somebody with the 9800m GT could check their vRAM (I know a guy on this forum with the card, it's not in a notebook so he could check, I'll send a PM).

I guess there is a good chance it will work.

Do you know if your notebook can boot with a bad GPU?

 

The 9800M GT SLI and 8800M GTX SLI uses the same 512MB VRAM capacity and thus perform similar. It's just a renaming scheme, and does not provide any significant performance boost or thermal improvement to the cards.

As mentioned before, it is not using MXM. The card looks like this:

 

The OP isn't looking for performance, he wants the yellow screen problem gone.

The exact vRAM is important, because if the vRAM is not the same, the flash most likely will fail.

 

i do not know if the notebook can boot with a bad gpu though.

 

the clockrates are the same for both the 9800gt and the 8800gtx, the voltages are lower on the 8800 though. i dont know if this means anything.

 

how can i find out if the notebook can boot with a bad gpu?

 

Maybe take the GPU out and try booting without one?

Would be better if you could find somebody that has the same notebook and had a bad GPU, then they could tell you.

 

Yes that's the point of my post why I have said it is not worth just to achieve a naming convention. Just flash the latest 8800M GTX BIOS to fix the issue once and for all rather than the 9800M GT one. Someone flashed it back in 09 and bricked his card FYI. Dell systems are not really that easy to handle and uses a proprietary system; thus the results, sporadic.

The M1730 will not boot with a completely dead GPU, it will flick error codes on the LED.

I'm not saying it can't be done, or discourage the use of doing so, but in all seriousness, just get the latest 8800M GTX BIOS from Dell and be done with it. And if your system is under warranty I would demand a new card from Dell. They'll probably give you a 9800M GT instead.

EDIT: Alright, screw what I wrote, what the hell's happening to me today? In theory they're of the same card from Dell, and there has been successful cases of 8800M GTX to 9800M GT flash. Just ought to be careful that's all.

 

Well, I am I not sure if I should go through with it or not now.
I have the most recent 8800M GTX BIOS and they are dated. Dell has not released any updates. The 9800M GT BIOS has been updated and includes a fix for my yellow screen problem.
My system is not under warranty and to renew it for a year is about $350.00.

 

Now I also just noticed that I don't even have both cards installed. My computer says I have 8800M GTX x1. Dell has not released any BIOS for the 8800M GTX (64-bit) at all as far as I know.

 

look here http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=1520459#post1520459

 

Thanks. I downloaded those yesterday just to have a look. They aren't the right version though.

How do I get me notebook to recognize my second graphics card?