A Guide to BIOS OC HP 8600gs with drivers ABOVE 169.04

yep, pretty much so....

no on the voltage for the gpu. i was talking about the cpu temps/voltage

 

oh ok, yea voltages with rmclock are very safe to do. Im a little scared of undervolting the gpu through nibitor for the 3d performance mode. I have the choice of lowering it to the voltage that the 2d clocks run at, but it might cause problems.

 

Hi lads!

I am owning an HP's dv9790ew with a 8600M gs 512mb graphics card. I've read the whole flashing guide on the first page, but still have a couple of questions, mainly concerning the 512mb issue:
- am I right to understand that if I follow the all the steps carefully (!), there shouldn't be any problems after reboot? I am concerned if I can apply the guide which is originally designed for 256mb cards to my 512mb card
- johnksss, I suppose you have the same graphics card as me, did you flash the f.45 bios into your card, or the f.23 one? /or the f.45 one with a f.23 video file?
and did you finally manage to go past the 480mhz of memory fq?

 

Thanks for the guide - it worked perfectly.

Managed to overclock the 8600M GS (256mb) in my dv9560 to 685/1370/520 with the 174.60 drivers which is very nice - about an 8fps average increase on the Crysis GPU benchmark.

How did you manage to get your 8600M to have 552MHz ram speed? I went up in 20s from 480, and 520 was the highest I could get without driver errors (with 169.04).

About to try it out in COD4 to see how much better it has really made my laptop...

 

He's using driver 174.60

 

yep...... but for me, it's a desktop replacement so it running a t a 60 to 80 degree's is fine with me. i noticed in the 8600m bios that they have it set to 115 degrees before shut down, so im well within a decent range.

 

I'm going to back up with Acronis and try driver 174.74 and se if I can get higher on the memory side.

 

yep! i flashed the f45 bios with no problems what so ever.

and our cards will not go past 480. 470 to 475 is pushing it.

i seem to still have the highest marks for a 8600m TRUE GS (not an undercover GT posing as a GS) running a default 3dmark06 score. so this tells me that we are on the right path.

i can play call of duty 4 on everything high at 1440x900. which is the standard resolution for most. so i would say...the guide is a success. i pretty much did all the card testing for us so a very safe overclock should be about 670/450/1340

 

we cant get any higher, because we have ddr2 and not gddr3 memory...

so im told...

 

Every card is different. Some can OC higher than others and its really just a matter of getting a "good-build" card. My friend has the same laptop as me and I configured it the same as mine but he could only push it to 520 or a little lower even. Guess i got lucky with my card.

Following that same logic, there might be someone with a 512mb card that can push his/her card higher than Johnksss' 480.


Also RussellJ, since you have the dv9500 with the 256mb card, did you try the f.23 bios and seeing if you could OC higher, or are you using the f.45 one? If the f.23 version yields higher clocks, you can always do what i did and slipstream the vbios from that into the f.45 bios to get the best of both worlds.

Also, Zenica- RussellJ and I are both using the 174.60 drivers now, and we both used the 169.04 drivers to get the initial clocks, so nothing is different there other than my card having a better build.

I'm not sure if using newer drivers will result in you being able to OC higher. If it does, let me know but it is a lengthy process of reflashing and testing, since you cant software OC with any other drivers other than 169.04.

 

I saw no gains with 174.74 over 169.04 and I lost the edge of the software
overclock so I'm back to the 169.04 driver.

I have reflashed to these numbers and my 3DMark06 numbers are higher but
not as high as John even with his memory clocked lower. Strange.

 

hope this helps.....


I recently had a rather frightening experience when I accidentally started the Phoenix BIOS Flash program in Windows.

I have an Intel VBI Compal EL80 (the HEL80 is the non-VBI version), and I wanted to update my BIOS to see if I could shorten the POST time (it seems excessively long, and it's because the thing is counting RAM, to the tune of 2 GB). So I downloaded the 107B BIOS update (From 102B), and was looking through the folder when, for one reason or another, most likely because of a sensitive touchpad, the Phoenix updater for Windows began to run.

Unfortunately, there was no user intervention required. It seemed to check the current version, and apparently since it was older than the version in the folder, started re-programming. No prompts, no nothing. Of course, I couldn't stop it, and it seemed to do okay.

Until it hit the 13/19 mark. Made it about halfway through, and gave me a BSoD (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL). I nearly had a massive heart attack. Of course, it was toast when I attempted to restart. It powered on, but that was it. No POST, nothing on the screen.

I managed to find enough instructions to build a "Crisis Recovery Disk", which I couldn't use at the time due to not having a floppy drive in my laptop. This recovery disk allows you to recover your system after a failed BIOS flash, providing your system has a Phoenix BIOS which supports this operation.

I attempted to use a USB flash drive without success, so I had to use a USB floppy drive at to fix it. For those of you that might have stumbled upon this for a similar reason, I will tell you how I got the system back into good working order (I hope it helps; it's not a good feeling when this happens).

First, you need to get the Crisis Recovery Disk Tool.

If you can't get it in this post, you can find it here: HP Business Support Forum - the download link is the paperclip on the right side at the top of the first post.

Once you have the program, run it, (I checked the "Format" option - I couldn't get it to work without doing that, results may and probably will vary), and you will now have a floppy that you will be able to use to recover the BIOS. But you're not done quite yet.

There is a file on the disk called BIOS.WPH which needs to be replaced with the file for your specific BIOS (mine was EL80107B.ROM, files will vary). The file needs to be put on the floppy in place of the 512 kb WPH file, and you MUST rename your BIOS file (i.e. EL80107B.ROM) to BIOS.WPH. Changing the extension is necessary.

After you have traded the default WPH file for your specific BIOS file, you have a completed disk, and need to remove the battery from the laptop, and unplug the AC power cord. Then plug in your USB floppy drive (with the Crisis Recovery Disk in it and ready to go). Next, With the AC still unplugged, press and hold the Fn(Function) and B buttons. While still holding them, plug the AC power in, then press the power button.

The system should power on, but there should be no LEDs lit up, and the fan should not slow down like it normally does. If that is not what happens, and you get LEDs that light up, and the fan slows like normal, unplug the AC power and try using the Win and B keys instead. Once the system has booted into the BIOS recovery mode, the floppy light will flash as it reads the BIOS file from the disk. You can then release the Fn+B keys (or Win+B ). After a minute or two, the floppy light will stop flashing.

DO NOT shut the computer off, as the process is only half complete. The system is now flashing the BIOS.

After the floppy light goes off, leave the computer on for two or three minutes; more if you want to be sure, and if the system does not reboot itself (mine did not), unplug the AC power. I let mine go for five minutes or so and pulled the plug (the power button would not shut the system off no matter how long I held it; I suspect this is normal). Five minutes should be plenty; however long you wait, try to be patient. My five minutes of waiting seemed to take forever, but paid off. Better to be without the laptop an extra minute or two than two weeks while it's back to wherever it came from having a new chip installed or the old chip re-flashed. Plug the AC power back into the laptop and fire it up.

If all goes well, you'll have made a very expensive paperweight into something useful again.

It seems this works for most newer models of laptops with Phoenix BIOSes (from what I've seen). Forums I've read have said that it may be either Fn+B or Win+B to boot into BIOS recovery mode, and I assume the EL80, HEL80, EL81, and HEL81 are the same, and probably behave the same during emergency flashing.

Hope someone finds this helpful, as I had to piece it together from parts I found all over.
Attached File(s)
Attached File Phoenix_Crisis_Recovery.zip ( 540.42K ) Number of downloads: 1524

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service...447626+1206642422179+28353475&threadId=974719
click the paper clip to the right

 

I happen to know that feeling when you restart your system and get a black screen with nothing. --> yeaah, it's not nice at all.

One more question about flashing the graphics card: johnksss, have you tried to flash the f.23 bios into your card? - I mean, the one that 8600mgs 256mb have?
I wonder if that is possible and if it could enable us to oc the memory past, let's say, 480mhz stable.

 

i need someone with a 256 meg version from a dv9700 series laptop and i sure can find out


i tried the f23 bios for the dv9500 series and there was no change.

 

Now I get it
Maybe sb who owns this laptop with this graphics card could upload the bios version somewhere so that we would be able to flash it once again and check the memory oc and performance.
It might be quite difficult to find that bios version somewhere in the net..

 

Take a look at: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/...re=&manufacturer=&model=&interface=&memSize=0

lots of many different bios versions, but unfortunately for hp... /only 1 version/

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/4022/NVIDIA.8600MGS.512.070711.html

still no 256's though

 

I know I saw that yesterday, I try this with a cd boot - no result
maybe I should try it with a usb floppy - (don't have one) before my box come to take away my HP

 

Try a USB Flash drive.

On a side note, my memory is oc'd past 480 & stable

 

what are your 3dmarks now?

 

The "Crisis Recovery Disk" don't format usb flash drive...
The only way it need to be done as I read in HP business forum
is trough a old good floppy ..

 

posted above...

 

Guys.. good news.. I found a new "Crisis Recovery Disk" that can flash phoenix bios over 1mg and make a usb thumb drive boot recovery disk.

100% success - got my screen back and I'm back in business

http://forums12.itrc.hp.com/service...447627+1206672526057+28353475&threadId=974719

then go to MartyLewis post (feb 02 2008) for details

 

ah, so they didnt change then.

 

damn, my card ran a 5.6 under vista 64 bit,
but under vista 32 bit, it wont go past 5.1....damn shame there.

 

more turbocache in 64bit...

I wouldnt use WEI anyway

 

congrats!!!!

so..... are your bios flashing days over?....lol

or are we ready to try it again.

 

and where did you find the new crisis recovery disk at???

 

John, mine is Vista Ultimate 64bit but my video is, well, not 5.6!
although I'd like it to be.

 

all good zenica! at least now, we are running faily decent to play games at a much higher res that when the computer came out the box! so that's all that matters at the end of the day

 

DISCLAIMER

This worked for me and It might not work for you so BE CAREFULL
as bios problems are various..


Here we go:
http://www.mediafire.com/?3ccb9m0kv0m

be sure you replace the disk bios file with your laptop most current bios file. (phoenix only)

My HP was stript ready to ship: no HD - also no battery

Held Win+B key
plug in AC adaptor
Powered on, it did some beeping
then I saw the light access of my flash drive, when the light stop I released win+b, it did some beeping then the cpu fan quick in (I knew then I was in good shape because it's the sound it make when the bios is flashing) then it stop and more beeping for 30 secs then it powered itself off .. done!

rebooted and I saw my bios.. felt good..

Hope you guys keep this files handy who knows..

 

John, very true...F.E.A.R. now has FPS on max of an avg 33

I need some help with a Fujitsu Stylistic ST4121.
I need the HDD cable and a way to boot without a CD drive.
I do have a USB floppy drive.

Most of all, I need that damn IDE HDD cable...I'm losing my mind trying to find one.

 

good stuff!!

 

use an external usb cdrom drive.

 

I have a PCMCIA one but that bus isn't powered until....you guessed it, until the OS loads. Nice huh

 

Oh thats great news! I'll go ahead and add this information to the guide whenever i have time.

I'm thinking of rewriting it to make it more clear, but it seems people are having success with it as it is, so i'll do it when i have more time.

My laptop is currently de-assembled as i'm trying to clean things out and apply artic silver 5. Hp laptops are a real pain in the ass. Sometimes removing components is almost as scary as a wrongly flashed bios.

 

ah, go ahead and knock that out in 25 minutes and quit watching tv and eatting snacks...you would have been done by now....*LOL*
j/k

 

hahah, its taken me the better half of the night just to get to the system board. Tomorrow is applying AS5 and re-assembling it. Its pretty annoying stuff.

 

say, take close up pictures of the gpu/cpu system board and part number of board. if you dont mind.

 

still looking for that ide cable.

 

yes, pictures are a good idea.

 

Yea i'll do it tomorrow, but if you're planning to replace something, its not likely to be done easily. I believe the gpu is not upgradable since its not MXM and its next to impossible to change the card as it is built in and etched on the laptop's motherboard.

 

lol
way ahead of you knives

that's why i said system board...the gpu is part of it. so to get a new gpu you have to switch out your system baord. and if hp has that already, then chances are...so does someone else for less.

 

Well, I was able to load XP Tablet onto the Fujitsu through an external USB flash drive connected via the built in USB hub in a keyboard and an external SATA drive also connected via USB. Since the Fujistu has only 2 USB ports, I was kind of limited with options. Still looking for that damn cable. Guess I needed another computer project since all of my HP's are up 'n running.

 

lol

busy busy busy

 

I broke down and called Fujitsu,

Cable, $7 dollars on debit Mastercard.
Shipping, $12 dollars on debit Mastercard.
Not spending $37 dollars for the same cable from eBay, very frugal.

 

cool! you found it

 

just managed to kill my laptop somehow while trying to reduce the overclocking a bit. I guess I must have done something wrong - maybe selected oprom1...
I guess I'll have to try that flash drive thing

 

so what does it do?