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How To: Unbrick Your Bricked Graphics Card/Fix a Failed BIOS Flash

619K views 314 replies 154 participants last post by  Glextilian 
#1 ·
Whether it was to improve your thermals, your performance, or both, you edited and tried to flash a new BIOS for your GPU but it didn't go over so well. Your PC is now currently failing to POST and your expensive parallel processing monster is nothing more than a big, bulky, oversized paperweight. If that is the case then this guide is for you.

THE GUIDE

1) You will need to find a PCI graphics card/display adapter from somewhere to act as a temporary video output until you can get your PCI-E card functioning properly again. This might involve going out to buy one or pulling one from an older machine or your stash.
*Feel free to use a PCI-E card instead of a PCI card if your motherboard has two or more PCI-E slots.
*You can also use onboard video if you motherboard has an IGP. The method for switching to it should be similar to the one outlined below.

2) Once you have found a PCI GPU go ahead and open your case. Remove the retention bracket of your PCI-E card and take the card out of your system. Remember to ground yourself first by touching the metal part of your case before handling any components in order to avoid damaging your components.

3) Once you have taken your PCI-E card out, insert your PCI card into a PCI slot, preferably one that is far away from your PCI-E slot so that it doesn't interfere with letting you put your PCI-E card back in.

4) Hook up your monitor's cable to the appropriate output on your PCI card and boot up your computer. Hopefully you should POST. If you don't and are getting a strange number of beeps from your motherboard, you might not have inserted your PCI card correctly into the slot and your motherboard is telling you it doesn't detect a VGA.

5) Right after you post, enter your BIOS by pressing the appropriate key. Find the setting in your BIOS which sets the primary display adapter. On my motherboard, this is found under Advanced -> Chipset Configuration -> North Bridge Settings, although it may be different for your motherboard.

6) Change your primary display adapter from PEG to PCI. This step will let you POST with your bricked graphics card inserted as the Power-on Self-test will not fail due to the incomplete BIOS present on your PCI-E card because you have switched the primary display to the PCI card.

*Disregard this step if you are using a PCI-e backup card instead of a PCI card.

7) After you have changed the primary display adapter setting, shut off your computer and insert your PCI-E card back in. You might want to put the retention bracket back on to make sure the card doesn't get bent.

8) Boot up your computer again and hopefully it will POST if you have done Step #5 correctly. Continue on into Windows. (Note: If your PCI-E card is ATi card and your PCI card is an nVIDIA card or vice-cersa, I WOULD NOT recommend installing nVIDIA (or ATi) drivers to accommodate your PCI card as the generic Windows display drivers will serve fine for the purpose of this guide).

9) When booted into Windows you will need to first of all make a bootable DOS disk. Creating a bootable USB drive is the easiest way, in my opinion, so follow this guide to make a bootable USB drive.

10) When you have made a bootable USB drive, download your favourite BIOS flashing software. (Eg. ATIFlash for ATI users and NVFlash for nVIDIA users)

11) Copy the folder with the software in into the root of the USB drive. Make sure to rename the folder to a name with a max of eight characters due to the limitation in DOS.

12) Find your backup or download an original BIOS for your graphics card and copy it into the SAME FOLDER as your flashing software and give it a name that is also under eight characters and easy to remember.

13) Restart your computer and boot into the USB drive. On my computer, this is done by pressing F8 and selecting the USB drive when I see the BIOS splash screen but it may be different for your motherboard.

14) Navigate to your folder using "cd [foldername]".

15) Finally, you can go ahead and flash your old BIOS. (Using ATIFlash, first find the adapter number done by using "atiflash -i", then you can flash by "atiflash -f -newbios -p [adapter number] [BIOS_filename].ROM").

* Make sure the BIOS file you are flashing has a *.ROM extension. If it doesn't, ATIFlash will not recognize it.
** NVFlash commands are different from ATIFlash but are well documented in its guide and readme included with it. So please READ the NVFlash guide before using it.
*** If your GPU is not detected by ATIFlash or NVFlash see the further troubleshooting section below.

16) Shut down your computer using your power button.

17) Reboot and then go back into the BIOS. Change the primary display adapter back from PCI to PEG. Save BIOS settings then shut down.

*Disregard this step if you are using a PCI-e backup card instead of a PCI card.

18) Switch your monitor cable from the PCI card back to your PCI-e card and remove the PCI card if you wish.

19) Boot up your computer and you should now be running back on your original GPU again.

20) END
thumbsupsmiley.png


---

Further Troubleshooting:

If NVFlash and ATIFlash cannot detect your GPU, first make sure that it is plugged in firmly. If it is still not being detected, your card may either have died from a hardware failure or has been bricked past recognition. In this case you may try the methods below:

Dire Experimental Methods

NO GUARANTEE THAT THESE WILL WORK.
TRY COMPLETELY AT YOUR OWN RISK! IF YOU FAIL, YOUR CARD WILL DIE... PERMANENTLY.

Method for ATI cards

*The guide linked in the above post is no longer available. It's the 1+8 pin recovery method. This thread on TPU references it. See it if you need any help. I don't provide support for any of these hardware recovery methods.

Method for NVIDIA cards

*This link is still available. Again, do this at your own risk. If you have questions about these methods, I can't answer them as I have never attempted them. And I recommend you don't either unless you find it absolutely necessary.
 
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1
#4 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by tiondus View Post
If my motherboard has integrated graphic, do I need the other PCI card ?
Your motherboard SHOULD default to the IGP for output, but don't quote me on that. My motherboard doesn't have an IGP so I can't test it to find out.


You're welcome to test and see if it works though. If it does, please tell me so I can add it to the guide. Thanks!
 
#6 ·
Thanks man great tut all links work great everything went smooth my card is working again
 
#8 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by metallicamaster3 View Post
Added to the nVidia Essentials Thread.
.
Awesome.


Quote:

Originally Posted by goldman11 View Post
Thanks man great tut all links work great everything went smooth my card is working again

Glad to hear it!


Quote:

Originally Posted by lonnie5000 View Post
Great guide. Nice job.

Thanks.
 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry60k View Post
Just wondering but will this method also work with AGP ?
I don't think it really matters whether you're trying to fix an AGP, a PCI or PCI-E card, as long as you have a temporary replacement display adapter that you can use.

I do think it should work for AGP, you just need to modify the guide a bit by substituting in AGP for wherever I say PEG or PCI-E.
 
#11 ·
I Need some help, I have been try to fix my bricked 4890 for over a month now and nothing seems to be working.

http://www.overclock.net/ati/669028-...bricked-4.html

I decided the problem might be that the flash drive was on quickformat when formated so I did it normally and still have no luck flashing the card. No matter what I do the pc just wont post with the card after I flash it. I'm all out of ideas that only thing I can really think of is why is the bios file a .Bin file and not .Rom? and also why does the actual flashing of the card take less then 10 seconds? Should it take longer? also after I format the flash drive I can't see the files in the root of the flash drive like it says in the guide....

If you have any info I would greatly appriciate it.
 
#12 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by deltaspirit View Post
I Need some help, I have been try to fix my bricked 4890 for over a month now and nothing seems to be working.

http://www.overclock.net/ati/669028-...bricked-4.html

I decided the problem might be that the flash drive was on quickformat when formated so I did it normally and still have no luck flashing the card. No matter what I do the pc just wont post with the card after I flash it. I'm all out of ideas that only thing I can really think of is why is the bios file a .Bin file and not .Rom? and also why does the actual flashing of the card take less then 10 seconds? Should it take longer? also after I format the flash drive I can't see the files in the root of the flash drive like it says in the guide....

If you have any info I would greatly appriciate it.
Flashing the BIOS does not take very long, so less than 10 seconds is actually what you want.

The files on the flash drive are hidden, you need to enable the setting in Windows to be able to view hidden files. You don't need to view them anyways so that's not an issue.

Are you sure that you're using the correct BIOS?
 
#13 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Core2uu View Post
Flashing the BIOS does not take very long, so less than 10 seconds is actually what you want.

The files on the flash drive are hidden, you need to enable the setting in Windows to be able to view hidden files. You don't need to view them anyways so that's not an issue.

Are you sure that you're using the correct BIOS?
Yeah, So far I've used three different bios's. 2 of them were from techpower and are clocked at the asus 4890 top clock but do not confirm they are actual 4890 top bios's ( could be just a overclocked bios) but one of them a got from a follow with the same card.

edit: Another thing to add is that after the flash I boot up the pc and go to bios to change the settings back to peg and for it to boot from my hd not my flashdrive, at this point I save it and turn it off then get no post and so forth.
 
#14 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by deltaspirit View Post
Yeah, So far I've used three different bios's. 2 of them were from techpower and are clocked at the asus 4890 top clock but do not confirm they are actual 4890 top bios's ( could be just a overclocked bios) but one of them a got from a follow with the same card.

edit: Another thing to add is that after the flash I boot up the pc and go to bios to change the settings back to peg and for it to boot from my hd not my flashdrive, at this point I save it and turn it off then get no post and so forth.
Afraid to say this, but I'm stumped man. If you followed my instructions EXACTLY, your card should be up and running fine. Since it's not, you may have bricked it for good.


You sure it's not a hardware problem? How did it get bricked in the first place?
 
#15 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Core2uu View Post
Afraid to say this, but I'm stumped man. If you followed my instructions EXACTLY, your card should be up and running fine. Since it's not, you may have bricked it for good.


You sure it's not a hardware problem? How did it get bricked in the first place?
I bricked it by following some steps on a similar guide, dos flashing made a bootable flash drive and flashed it the same way I'm doing now. I figure it was a normal 4890 bios that was clocked at 4890 top clocks. The thing with my card is that its a non refrence card with some funky fijitsu ram chips or something so I need the exact bios.
 
#16 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by deltaspirit View Post
I bricked it by following some steps on a similar guide, dos flashing made a bootable flash drive and flashed it the same way I'm doing now. I figure it was a normal 4890 bios that was clocked at 4890 top clocks. The thing with my card is that its a non refrence card with some funky fijitsu ram chips or something so I need the exact bios.
That's most likely the problem, then. You need your original BIOS. Which is why it's ALWAYS good to make a backup copy of your stock BIOS before loading any new ones.

I know it's annoying, but it's true what they: Backups are important. Try contacting ASUS and see if they can direct you to a correct copy of your BIOS.
 
#19 ·
#20 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Boereman View Post
What is the command line for saving the bios of your card as well as writing your edited bios when using nVflash?
You should backup your original BIOS using GPU-Z. Press the button to the left of the BIOS version on GPU-Z to save it.

Flashing with NVFlash is as simple as [nvflash "filename.rom"] if you only have a single a graphics adapter installed. If you have more than one, you need to specify using the identified ID. NVFlash comes with a comprehensive manual so you use that if need be. There's a lot more options but simply specifying the filename of the new BIOS-ROM you want to flash should work in your case.
 
#21 ·
Somewhat of an old thread, but I recently bricked my powercolor 5850 PCS+ (NON reference PCB). I tried this guide with onboard graphics as the primary, got all the way up to step 15, and atiflash -i came up with "adapter not found"

I'll leave this as a warning to anyone that reads this, DO NOT FLASH NON REFERENCE GRAPHICS CARDS WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN MODIFIED BIOS DESIGNED FOR THAT EXACT CARD! Or you'll end up with a $150 paperweight like I did.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSeraph;12144870
Somewhat of an old thread, but I recently bricked my powercolor 5850 PCS+ (NON reference PCB). I tried this guide with onboard graphics as the primary, got all the way up to step 15, and atiflash -i came up with "adapter not found"

I'll leave this as a warning to anyone that reads this, DO NOT FLASH NON REFERENCE GRAPHICS CARDS WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN MODIFIED BIOS DESIGNED FOR THAT EXACT CARD! Or you'll end up with a $150 paperweight like I did.
You're sure it's all plugged in correctly and you've followed all the steps? Also, it MAY have something to do with you using the IGP and the setup of this guide being specifically for a temporary PCI card.
 
#23 ·
what if you have 2 pci-e slots and 2 pci-e cards, could it work by putting the bricked card in the secondary and the good card in the primary? I tried that, system booted, but the atiflash.exe could not see the bricked card in the secondary slot. Does this mean it's gone for good, or I just need to try it with a PCI card?

Informative thread, Glad I found it, and glad you created it!
 
#24 ·
i have the same prob george,though i used igp to boot as primary,otherwise it gives the bios beeps of no gpu
frown.gif

i tried last night and though i think it sees the card,it says something like unrecognised,
although it might be the igp thats unrecognised?
i so wish i could fix this card as i doubt it can be rma'd
frown.gif
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutalGoerge;12172154
what if you have 2 pci-e slots and 2 pci-e cards, could it work by putting the bricked card in the secondary and the good card in the primary? I tried that, system booted, but the atiflash.exe could not see the bricked card in the secondary slot. Does this mean it's gone for good, or I just need to try it with a PCI card?

Informative thread, Glad I found it, and glad you created it!
That should have worked but seeing as it didn't I'm going to ask the obvious questions first. Are both of your cards ATI/AMD? And which card have you bricked, how did you brick it, which BIOS did you use, which one are you using now and what is the good card that you have?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MightyMission;12174079
i have the same prob george,though i used igp to boot as primary,otherwise it gives the bios beeps of no gpu
frown.gif

i tried last night and though i think it sees the card,it says something like unrecognised,
although it might be the igp thats unrecognised?
i so wish i could fix this card as i doubt it can be rma'd
frown.gif
I'm assuming you are using NVFlash instead of ATiFlash, and NVFlash should only recognize your GTX470 and not your IGP.
 
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