Probably dead 7970m, need confirmation

Hi everyone,

Today morning I was tracking why I'm always getting blue screen error when installing any drivers for my 7970m in my P170EM.



I was thinking that may be windows problem but the same situation under fresh installation of Windows 10 or 7.
I tried also tried to reflash most recent bios and PremaMod.

At the moment I cannot to read or write vbios (or I missing something):

This is how card is visible under DOS using atiflash:


No chance to write or read vbios, always the same error


And this is the card:


File bios which I tried to write is not mine, was the closest version which I was able to find online:

Code:

Uª€éy                  ,    IBM1              761295520      q            03/26/12 05:22  2   é` éo   Ø €  ` ÀRb „
         >x €¸X@(
¥   Ð          @H°”0WX ’Ã        ž                          P150EMPX.001 WIMBLEDON PCI_EXPRESS GDDR5
Wimbledon XT MXM GDDR5 300e/150m 0.9V PX5.0                               


 (C) 1988-2010, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ATOMBIOSBK-AMD VER015.018.000.000.000000 P150EMPX.001 749789   222308            Clevo_P150EM_Wimbledon_XT_A1_MXM_PX5

If you want to check file itself is attached.

This is GPU-Z:


If you have any solution, please share.

Thanks

 

It doesn't look good...

 

Hm, your vBios should be okay.

Did you already try to unlock your .rom?

Try

X:/ATIFLASH -unlockrom 0

If your dGPU is not "0" type in:

X:/ATIFLASH -i

to determine if your dGPU is "0" or "1"

then repeat with

X:/ATIFLASH -unlockrom 0 (or 1)

then

X:/ ATIFLASH -f - p 0 or 1 new.rom (-> "new" has to be replaced with the .roms name)

should do the trick!

Just give it a try and tell us how it went.

 

Hi mate,
thanks for this, I tried but no results, check the screenshot:


Strange, because in BIOS card is fully recognized:


Anyway, today after Windows updated I'm able to see card in device manager, but is Disabled:

Manually enabling it doesnt help, screen will blink once and is still disable after.

After this update card is also visible in GPU-Z and I was able to backup current vbios, check the screenshot. Original vbios file attached.


Any ideas guys?
Strange thing is I cannot change keyboard backlight, I used in the past some unofficial app to do it, maybe even from this forum, and now I cannot come back to, let's say constant one color.
I will try to find this app again, maybe related?
Thanks
Kamil

 

Looks like this atiflash version can't identify the eeprom on the card (latest DOS is v4.17, I think). Either that or the ID-pin is not properly hooked up on this EM system; pretty much every AMD card has a Pm25L*** chip, which should be in the internal list of all atiflash versions.

Try the '-sst' switch to force it to use the proper flashing parameters. Alternatively, use ATI Winflash. Perhaps it'll pull through, even if the device hasn't started in Windows.

Both vbioses you've uploaded are identical, btw. Can't be sure, but looks like it was modified at some time another. Just in case, here's another version (has slightly different clocks): v018_e_MFR_7970M_clevo_001.7z.

 

Thanks
I tried as you suggested with "-sst" parameter and this is result:


AtiWinFlash is saying that, when I'm trying to flash rom which you provided:


Should I try maybe different version?

 

Am not aware of any other Enduro-enabled 7970M Clevo vbios, unfortunately. If ATIWinFlash is accurate then at least we know the eeprom type; use the '-st' switch instead of '-sst'. It's claiming 'identical version' because it only looks at the header, with DOS (and '-st'?) it is possible to reflash the same version, at least.

Don't think any of this will help, though. The vbios looks ok, so something else must be amiss ... if possible, check the card in a different system or consider baking it.

 

BAKE IT
I tried once with microsd card, I found that solution somewhere online and result wasn't amazing. From 64gb down to 2mb, and still was dead.
Are you sure this may help?

I the mean time, -st parameter still giving me "Failed to read ROM" error the same as before.

 

Well ... the fresh Windows 7 install rules out a lot of the normal possible issues (so does reflashing the bios and ec). A last straw is testing with various Intel HD drivers; some are known troublemakers.

If that didn't help; the 7970M and 8970Ms are a rather notorious batch and baking them does help in a lot of instances. Have had pretty good results myself, but use a heat gun + thermal probe, so temperature control is far more accurate than an oven. According to 'stories' people set temperature rather low (385°F), but that is not what is really happening in a household oven; measuring with an independent, non-oven sensor will show it'll peak several digits above and below that.

Get one of these, drop the sensor in the oven and start low (don't pre-heat). Reflow window of unleaded solder starts at 217°C and needs 1 to 2 minutes to complete. If it didn't help then add 5°C and do another run.

 

I did my 6990M for 8 mins at 200C (preheated) in a hot air oven and it worked well. Two months ago and still running, though I don't use it a lot and don't really game.

 

Baking may or may not be the solution, and is usually the last option I would look at. I would exhaust all other options first, as baking can ruin a graphics card.

 

Definitely only do that once you're convinced it's dead and needs replacement.

 

Hey there!

I've found a sort of solution on my forum/thread

come check it out, I've exact the same problem as you and emailed the manufacturer. They provided me with a Batchfile and a vBIOS. I succeeded in flashing but stil have to find the right driver.

Email Manufacterer:

Hello Jamie.

You are missing 1 very important thing.

The PCIE command that switches it from the Intel to the AMD for flashing.

I have attached the default vbios and flash util for the card.

Please rename the file from .zif to .zip

Extract it to a bootable USB

Please flash it off a DOS boot like you have been doing, but run PX.bat.

The will auto run the PCIE command, and flash the card.

I've emailed an administrator on TPU to upload this vBIOS and files

But first check the thread I made so you understand my situation:

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/conversations/amd-7970m.341023/

Greetz,

Jamie

 

Nice .

Could you share the content of that PX.bat file? And the vbios, as well?

 

Hi how do I share it? I've already uploaded it to the TPU they are checking it right now

 

Well ... right-click -> edit -> copy/paste the content.

That is, assuming that's all you've added to the boot drive, so no other executables?

 

There are some other files (vBIOS) and their version of Atiflash. But i can upload the whole folder als .zif or .zip if this website allows it.

 

Here are the files Eurocom provided me