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    Any way to fix my bad vBIOS flash?

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by CarlosGFK, Jun 21, 2010.

  1. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    I was messing with the vBIOS in my 5870m and i flashed it several times without any problem, then the last time i flashed it, the screen was just black on boot. Is their anything i could do to fix this situation?
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 21, 2010
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  2. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    yea you will have to do a blind flash

    if its set to boot off a usb drive just make a autoexec file to run a batch file with the commands in it
     
    The_Moo™, Jun 22, 2010
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  3. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    I tried that already, and waited like 5 mins until i restarted, no luck. Thanks anyway.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 22, 2010
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  4. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    it may not be passing post
     
    The_Moo™, Jun 22, 2010
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  5. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    Right you are, so what now?
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 22, 2010
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  6. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    ha you are as lucky as I am :)
    Does it beep twice after power on or after alt-ctrl-del?
     
    MpA, Jun 22, 2010
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  7. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    No it make no sounds at all. It's eerie, just black screen.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 22, 2010
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  8. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    Has it got some HDD usage like booting? Have you set a Windows startup sound?
     
    MpA, Jun 22, 2010
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  9. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    None of that happens, it doesn't go through POST.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 22, 2010
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  10. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    It does not pass POST, and it does not beep when trying an alt-ctrl-del reboot after half a minute powered on and not doing anything?
    In this situation, I had got two beeps after rebooting which meant something imprtant like the graphics card is missing / could not recognize.
    Have you got the Phoenix BIOS on it?
    What about your screen backlight?
     
    MpA, Jun 22, 2010
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  11. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    A friend is facing the same situation, with a Clevo 5870 (transplanted into an Alienware M15x) at least temporarily bricked after an attempted flash with a Dell 5850 vbios. Same as you, the computer won't even post. As you know, the traditional remedy in the desktop world is to put the bricked card into a secondary slot in a working machine, boot using the good card and then flash (often a blind flash) to the bricked card. Problem in the laptop world is finding a dual card computer that will boot with the damaged card installed. The M17x-R2 is one of the few. It has worked at least once, recovering a bricked Dell 5870 that had been flashed with a Clevo vbios. My friend is trying to do the same process to recover a Clevo 5870. There has apparently been very few instances of the procedure with laptop cards. You should get in touch with or PM Inappropriate_Name3, who is very active in the M15x section of the Alienware forum. He is engaged in the exact same issue and may be able to at least share experiences. I suspect that the dual card unit is the only solution short of returning the card to Clevo for restoration to factory specs.
     
    The Revelator, Jun 22, 2010
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  12. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    As I wrote I am in the same situation but with a Nvidia one, you might want to have a look at my great attempt.

    At the time of writing, SLI might not work as the dead card is not being recognized. I do not know if the M17x-R2 can handle it but you might have a try if possible. Additionally, you do not get the POST beeps of the Phoenix BIOS after rebooting as I do. Another easy and cheap solution would be to reflash the BIOS chip using a professional service, I will go this way for my card.
     
    MpA, Jun 22, 2010
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  13. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    What professional services offer card reflashing?
     
    The Revelator, Jun 22, 2010
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  14. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    @Revelator
    So did Inap go through the same or similar problem?
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 22, 2010
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  15. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    He's going through it right now. He's lined up a M17x to try the dual card recovery method, but I haven't heard any results. Not sure he's gotten the opportunity to actually try yet. I will run down the name of the person that actually pulled it off successfully, but that was a little easier situation.
     
    The Revelator, Jun 22, 2010
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  16. KipCoo

    KipCoo Notebook Evangelist

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    What bios was the OP flashing to? Also would like to know why the OP was flashing his bios.

    If a blind flash method won't work, what else can you do? Is it possible that the bios chip on the card itself could be ruined with a bad flash? Could a bios flash kill a video card?
     
    KipCoo, Jun 22, 2010
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  17. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I was flashing a slightly modified original BIOS. I had done it several times before the last one, and had no problems, I guess the last time it was bad for some reason.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 22, 2010
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  18. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    My Clevo 5870 now bit the dust but I wasn't even flashing it, it just stopped working. Regarding Inapp, the M17xR2 does not POST with a bad GPU in it, been there done that. The M17xR1 did with the video integrated into the chipset.
     
    Mandrake, Jun 22, 2010
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  19. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey Mandrake, any idea why your clevo 5870 stopped working?
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 22, 2010
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  20. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    Nope, I had it out of my system for about a week. Went to put it in today and the system won't POST. There is one trick I will try tomorrow to get it back but I'm not holding my breath.
     
    Mandrake, Jun 22, 2010
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  21. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    Good luck. Think we might just be working these cards too hard?
     
    The Revelator, Jun 23, 2010
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  22. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    I am getting the card replaced (hopefully). Sending it back via RMA.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 23, 2010
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  23. KipCoo

    KipCoo Notebook Evangelist

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    that sucks, hopefully they just reflash it.
     
    KipCoo, Jun 23, 2010
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  24. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    Not sure about US services, but this here would be one for Europe


    You could desolder the EEPROM chip, reprogram and replace it. There is no other option as the programming voltage would get 'lost' in the card's PCB.

    You will be lucky if they just replace it and do not notice the VBIOS. I think flashing unsupported BIOS is not covered by any warranty :p

    Btw, could you modify the MR BIOS regarding voltages, clocks and thresholds as easy as with nibitor? Would the changes apply without any driver mods in Windows?
     
    MpA, Jun 25, 2010
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  25. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I didn't flash an unsupported bios, it was the original with minor change. I made sure to check the checksum too, and it was just fine, so it bugs me that the card some how got bricked. Anyway, I'll make sure to post back here if I get it replaced, no questions asked.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jun 26, 2010
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  26. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    Any news on your problem?
     
    MpA, Jul 10, 2010
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  27. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    Why yes, there is some news I will be getting a replacement for the bad card next week.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jul 10, 2010
    #27
  28. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    That's good to hear.
     
    The Revelator, Jul 10, 2010
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  29. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    Agreed. Did you send the card to RJTech/Sager?
    Would you mind telling us what you have changed that caused a bad flash?
     
    MpA, Jul 11, 2010
    #29
  30. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    Sent it to RJTech. As for what i changed, well at first i changed just clocks, and that worked just fine, then i decided to change fan settings and that didn't work out too well.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jul 11, 2010
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  31. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    Carlos, did you flash from DOS or use WinFlash? I've changed fan settings in the vbios on several occasions without incident.
     
    The Revelator, Jul 12, 2010
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  32. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    I flashed from DOS... I don't dare flash with winflash. I the more I think about it the more I feel it was just bad luck.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jul 12, 2010
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  33. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    It happens. Sorry it happened to you.
     
    The Revelator, Jul 12, 2010
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  34. MpA

    MpA Notebook Geek

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    So if you plan to change fan settings, go with WinFlash to be sure or trying DOS and be lucky?
     
    MpA, Jul 12, 2010
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  35. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    Other way around. DOS-based flashing with Atiflash is safer than using WinFlash, but marginally more complicated.
     
    The Revelator, Jul 12, 2010
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  36. CarlosGFK

    CarlosGFK Notebook Evangelist

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    Yea flash in DOS, its way safer than WinFlash. It is more likely to fail in windows environment.
     
    CarlosGFK, Jul 12, 2010
    #36