X800 Pro VIVO to XT PE Bios Mod

[djbbenn]

What flashrom are you using? And you are sure that you have a good contact between the two points. Also dump the bios with Atitool and get RABIT and open up the dumped bios. Take a screen shot of the Device ID so I can see what it says about the bios.

-Dan

 

[dil]

i've been using atiflash v3.09 to flash the bios in dos and i couldnt find how to dump the bios with atitool (i had to put the bios in rabit that i have flashed the x800 with),

i had the connection verified by my brother that all was intact and have done the connection and reconections 4 times with all same results.

here's the screen shot


http://img.techpowerup.org/050828/screen shot.jpg

 

[djbbenn]

Use this flashrom and try. Replace "atiflash" in the comand line with "flashrom", so it will look like this "flashrom -p -f 0 bios.bin"

-Dan

 

[dil]

just tried it with the same bios (asus x800xt pe) exactly the same no change,

 

[djbbenn]

Use a different bios and try.

-Dan

 

[dil]

from ASUS x800xt pe to ATi x800xt still no changes still geting recognised as x800gt and with 12 active pipelines.

 

[dil]

1 thing has chaned though i used to get 2 unknown devices now they have gone.

 

[djbbenn]

Is it showing the extra 4 pipes? It should, because that flash tool was made to do this mod. If the pipes are ther it will enable them. Sounds to me that the flashrom is working though, where you say there is no unknow devices now. Just try some more bioses.

-Dan

 

[dil]

is atitools reliable for checking pipelines as it only shows 12,

i flashed it again with SAPHIRE x800xt and no changes and i got the two unknown devices again.

 

[djbbenn]

Yes Atitool is reliable, you might have to reinstall Atitool to confirm the pipes. A lot of people had to. Give that a try.

-Dan

 

[dil]

nope still reporting 12 pipelines. after uninstalling and reinstalling atitool (0.25 beta 5)

 

[dolf]

The reason for these strange appearances like GT, SE ect. on flashed X800 PCIx is partly connected with the BIOS but mainly with the core. After flashing some data remains unchanged whatever BIOS is used because the number of active pipelines is permanently assigned within the core (somehow).

I have seen a forum with the debate with the creator of RivaTuner about collecting data for moddability of the new cores on PCIx cards. It becomes clear that the the chance to unlock extra pipes on X800Pro could be detected in RivaTuner within the core registers scripts. Also it becomes clear that core registers can tell us a story about almost zero chance to unlock the pipes on the new R423 cores, because ATI uses almost all cores with working pipes for high-end cards (probably every single core is manualy tested) . I know that is very interesting for the owners of such cards, that's why I will look for the address of this issue and will post it as soon as possible .

Flashing the new BIOS changes everything but the number of active pipelines (set in the core) which just confuses the driver (the new drivers supports GT) and it shows strange things like described above X800SE, GT and so on.

Regards

 

[dil]

thanks dolf that will be a great help.

 

[djbbenn]

Yes very true indeed, and that was the main reason for the modded flashrom, so it would not preserve the settings of pipes and so on. If you flash a pro vivo agp, with the regular Atiflash and a XT PE bios, it will still have 12p. No matter what bios you use because it preservers the rom settings. That was the problem I had when I first started doing this mod, then I found this flashrom by W1zzard and it cured it for me (but i had defective pipes ). It has been done on the PCI-E versions, but the chances of it working are very slim. Thanks for that little info with rivatuner dolf.

dil: you might have to flash a empty bios for this to work, so it will erase all remains of you bios.

-Dan

 

[dil]

djbbenn how do i flash a empty bios?

would i have to flash it empty and then flash it with a real bios,

 

[djbbenn]

Yup you have it right, you flash the empty bios as if it were a real one, execpt and this important, you do not reset the computer, you flash the real straight afterwards. If you reset after doing just the empty bois, you will have to blind flash or get a PCI card, or the card may not work at all. So its empty flash, true bios flash, then reset. Heres the empty bios.

-Dan

 

[dil]

do i force flash the bios's

 

[djbbenn]

Yup.

-Dan

 

[dil]

done it, and no changes, i've uninstalled the atitools and reinstalled it, still x800gt and 12 pipelines.

 

[djbbenn]

Sigh, you might have to give up, I was at a point with mine where I knew no matter what I did I couldn't have those damn pipes. Sorry man, I know how you feel. Just overclock that bad boy and enjoy what you got before something gets broke do to messing with it so much.

-Dan

 

[dil]

yup your right, it looks like i'll have to give in, they must have locked it in the core thank you for your help your have been a true star. i guess i'll cherish my 12 pipelines for now.

 

[dolf]

Guys here it is the promised links to the X800 pipe issue:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?threadid=129374&perpage=25&highlight=&pagenumber=1

Also see something old but corresponding with today discussion (and absolutely the same like my opinion concerning the way of locking) some interesting ideas from ViperJohn:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?mode=hybrid&t=33776798

On the Russian forums are widely discussed the possibilities for pipe unlocking but till now the cases of success are few .

I will also post picture of my result after running RivaTuner on my X800XT PE AGP just for comparison with the above.

There is no promises for successfull pipe unlocking but reading this all of us will know what to expect. At present most of the cards with new cores are hardly cocked but don't lose your faith some day (hope soon) the secret probably will be solved

Hope that the post will put a litle more light in this area.
Success to all of you!!!

 

[dil]

dolf: according to your first link the forum quotes "Guys, if you have AGP / PCIE X8..0 - please run RivaTuner with the following command line and post your results here:

RivaTuner.exe /rr990 /rr994 /rr99c /rr402c"

i've downloaded "RivaTuner20RC156" and installed. and i dont understand how i'm suppose to do the command line like the guy says.

(By the way thanks for the links)

 

[dolf]

Yes I had the same problem and finaly solve it doing this in Total Commander.
Start Total Commander and open the directory wherever the Riva Tuner is installed for example "c:\Program Files\RivaTuner v2.0 RC 15.x\" copy and paste RivaTuner.exe /rr990 /rr994 /rr99c /rr402c in the command window on the bottom of Total Commander and press enter and you will get the information.

If register 990 shows something different than xxxxfxxx you can forget for unlocking the pipes. If you have xxxxfxxx in 990 and laser cut it will reflects (according the results of the statistic) in 994 register with xxxxxxxx. After connecting the lasercut probably you will see for 994 register xxxxxxxf. It is reasonable to connect the laser cut only if you can prove xxxxfxxx in register 990.

But who knows you can be one lucky guy who receive moddable card .

Dil I have one personal reques in case that you have digital camera. Can you make some detailed pictures of the both sides of the card (if posible without heatsink) and also of the core itself. You can send it to me on private mail vgd_new@yahoo.com. I haven't such card but it will be interesting for me to play around. Thanks in advance.

Despite of almost zero chance I wish you success

 

[dil]

Done it, this is what i got:-

http://img.techpowerup.org/050830/total com.jpg

will i be able to unlock the pipelines?

and i do have a digital camera, do you want the pic's close up as pobbile with out blurry, the core it self has thermal grease on, but you will see the outer bits, will that be ok for you.