All about software repair of video cards. BIOS firmware for AMD video cards Programs for flashing video cards

Hello! Many people asked me to write a guide on flashing video card firmware for mining. And we waited a long time, and as you can see, the good news is that the guide has been written. And so our guide will use the example of firmware for the amd RX 580 sapphire nitro + video card. But the guide applies to all videos radeon cards(ati) rx 580, 570, 470, 480, 460, 560, 460 series.

And so rx 580 nitro + sapphire before firmware

The final result is at the end of the article.

Video card BIOS firmware

As you understand from the name, you need to flash the bios, namely change the timings. Bios firmware is especially helpful in mining ether (eth).

Attention! If you flash and change the bios timings of a video card, you do so at your own peril and risk! It is not known exactly what will happen to the guarantee.

And so, flashing the BIOS of an amd video card begins with the necessary programs.

Programs for flashing video cards:

1.Ati flash program for flashing amd video cards, namely, for saving the old firmware and uploading a new one - .

2. Polaris BIOS Editor for editing video card BIOS timings, this version Suitable for all types of memory - .

3. Atikmdag patcher - needed so that after updating the timings the video card works correctly and there are no errors - .

The entire basic set for flashing the bios of a video card for mining from under Windows has been assembled.

Thank you all for your attention. Bye.

I also wanted to add that the bios firmware of the nvidia video card is not needed for mining! She won't give anything.

Updating the BIOS of a video card is required very rarely; this may be due to the release of important updates or a settings reset. Usually the graphics adapter works normally without flashing for its entire life, but if it needs to be done, then you need to do everything carefully and follow the instructions exactly.

Before you begin, we recommend that you pay attention to the fact that all actions must be performed strictly according to the instructions. Any deviation from it can lead to serious consequences, to the point where you will have to use the services of service center. Now let's take a closer look at the process of flashing the BIOS of an AMD video card:

1. Go to the official GPU-Z website and download the latest version.
2. Open it and pay attention to the name of the video card, GPU model, BIOS version, type, memory size and frequency.



3. Using this information, locate the BIOS firmware file on the Tech Power Up website. Compare the version on the website and the one indicated in the program. It happens that an update is not required, except in cases where it is necessary to perform a full recovery.
4. Unpack the downloaded archive to any convenient location.
5. Download RBE BIOS Editor from the official website and run it.
6. Select an item "Load BIOS" and open the extracted file. Make sure the firmware version is correct by viewing the information in the window "Information".



7. Go to the tab "Clock Settings" and check the frequencies and voltage. The indicators should match those displayed in the GPU-Z program.



8. Go to the GPU-Z program again and save old version firmware so that you can roll back to it if something happens.



9. Create a bootable USB flash drive and move two files with firmware and the ATIflah.exe flash drive, which can be downloaded from the developer’s official website, to its root folder. Firmware files must be in ROM format.
10. Everything is ready to start the firmware. Turn off your computer, insert the boot drive, and start up. You must first configure the BIOS to boot from a flash drive.
11. After successful loading, the screen should display command line, where you should enter:

    atiflash.exe -p 0 new.rom

    Where "New.rom"— the name of the file with the new firmware.



12. Click Enter, wait for the process to complete and restart the computer, first removing the boot drive.

Rollback to old BIOS version

Sometimes the firmware does not install, and most often this happens due to the carelessness of users. In this case, the video card is not detected by the system and, in the absence of a built-in graphics accelerator, the image on the monitor disappears. To resolve this issue, you will need to rollback to previous version. Everything is done extremely simply:

1. If booting from the integrated adapter is not successful, then you need to connect another video card to the PCI-E slot and boot from it.
2. Use the same bootable USB flash drive on which the old BIOS version is saved. Connect it and boot your computer.
3. The command line will appear on the screen again, but this time you should enter the command:

   atiflash.exe -p -f 0 old.rom

   Where "old.rom"— the name of the file with the old firmware.

All that remains is to change the card back and find the cause of the failure. It is possible that the wrong firmware version was downloaded or the file was damaged. In addition, you should carefully study the voltage and frequency of the video card.

Today we took a detailed look at the process of flashing the BIOS of AMD video cards. There is nothing complicated in this process, it is only important to follow the instructions and carefully check the necessary parameters so that serious problems do not occur that cannot be solved by rolling back the firmware.

RBE is a handy tool to modify several interesting parameters in ATI BIOS files. It focuses on fan and clock settings as these are the most important things to most users. BIOS modification is an alternative to using memory resident tweaking utilities such as RivaTuner, ATI Tray Tools or ATITool.
But RBE can do more than that: It will balance the BIOS file"s checksum, lets you modify the Overdrive settings, enables superior PowerPlay functionality for some video cards, contains a CCC profile editor for hidden features of the CCC and much more.

Main Features

• Can display and change a lot of information strings inside the BIOS file, including Device ID and vendor ID.
• Accesses every PowerPlay state and can change GPU clocks, RAM clocks and voltage for each of them separately.
• Displays the PowerPlay structure of the BIOS.
• Also displays the voltages the card can make use of.
• Can graphically display and modify four different fan controllers in a very comfortable way and automatically figures out which controller is used for a particular BIOS.
• RBE modifies the Overdrive signature of a BIOS to enable a higher overclocking limit. Signatures can also be extracted and saved to a file.
• Will make the annoying spin up bug some cards have vanish.
• Enables superior PowerPlay.
• Contains a profile editor for accessing hidden CCC panel features.
• Acquires and flashes BIOSes all from within RBE using the built-in WinFlash interface.

Due to a digital signature requirement on the latest AMD cards, RBE is no longer in active development and will not support the latest graphics cards.

Documentation

Downloads

The latest version is available in the downloads section.

Screenshots

Which video cards are supported?

So far, this might be an incomplete list:

• LE 2400
• 2400 PRO
• 2400 PRO AGP
• 2400XT
• 2600LE
• 2600 Pro
• 2600 Pro AGP
• 2600XT
• 2600XT AGP
• 2900 GT
• 2900 PRO
• 2900XT
• 3200 series
• 3300 series
• 3470 mobile
• 3600 series
• 3870 X2
• 4850 X2
• 4870 X2
• 4870 X2
• HD 5450
• HD 5570
• HD 5670
• HD 5750
• HD 5770
• HD 5850
• HD 5870
• HD 5970
• HD 6850
• HD 6870
• FireGL V3600
• FireGL V3750
• FireGL V5600
• FireGL V5700
• FireGL V7600
• FireGL V7700
• FireGL V7760
• FireGL V7770
• FireGL V8600
• FireGL V8650
• FireGL V8700 Duo
• FireGL V8750

All in all, the engine is somewhat flexible. If you have a video card which is not officially supported, just give it a shot nonetheless.

Revision history

v1.28

• Fixed a bug that reported an error message regarding VendorID writing occasionally.
• Fixed rare overdrive bug.
• Added 6950 -> 6970 shader unlocking capability (will most likely only work for reference design cards).
• Added 6990 DeviceID.

v1.27

• Added volt modding capability for CHL8214 voltage controller (reference design 6870 and 6850 cards).
• Added volt modding capability for VT1556M voltage controller (reference design 6970 and 6950 cards).
• Changing DeviceID now changes both locations properly (hopefully) all the time.
• Changing VendorID should work in more cases now.
• Added some new DeviceIDs (6950/6970).
• Updated WinFlash link.
• Updated RBE"s internal BIOS extraction method to account for "ATI" labeled "AMD" now.
• Improved Hex editor interface a little.
• Fixed method 1 overdrive hacking signature extraction for 6xx0 cards. Only superficially tested due to no available non-reference signatures yet

v1.26

• Added (preliminary) support for Radeon HD 6850 and 6870. Everything _should_ work, except for voltage modding.
• Fixed minor WinFlash version detection bug.
• Improved built-in hex editor search functionality (again).
• Improved flashing procedure for more stability.
• Fixed Dell Subvendor-ID, thanks to Clinton for the tip!

v1.25

• Added preliminary fan control for 5970 (EMC2103 fan controller). Big thanks to Diverge for making this possible!
• Added support for Radeon 5830, 5450 and 5570.
• Added signature file based overdrive hacking capability for 5xx0 cards. Thanks to Biker for extensive testing!
• Improved built-in hex editor search capability.
• Fixed another subvendor display issue, hopefully for good this time.
• Improved RAM interface detection.
• Fixed a rarely occurring bug (on mobile Radeon BIOSes only) regarding powerplay table.
• Added qualified error message if pre-2xx0 BIOS is detected.
• Fixed rare file opening issue.
• Updated WinFlash link.
• Fixed minor clock wizard issue.
• Added welcome message for first time users.
• Added feature to enable RivaTuner versions< v2.25 to cooperate with 5xx0 Radeons.

v1.24

• Added 58x0 and 5970 GPU voltage control. I"d like to express my gratitude to VuurVOS who made this possible.
• Added memory voltage control where available (i.e. all cards that utilize a VT1165 in order to control memory voltage, such as 4890, 5870 and 5970 ).
• Added GPU voltage control for cards utilizing a L6788A chip. Most 4770s and 5770s use them. Hey, better late than never! :-) Unfortunately, 5670 and 5750 reference design cards can not be supported because their UP6201 chip does not support external programming.
• Fixed subvendor-display on 5xx0 cards.

v1.23

• Fixed "GetStringPos" bug that occurred on rare BIOSes.
• Improved RAM and RAM interface detection.
• Improved 5xx0 support. Still no voltage tweaking yet.
• Added 5xx0 device-IDs. These cards are featured now: 5670, 5750, 5770, 5850, 5870, 5970.

v1.22

• Added clock tuning wizard.
• Changed fan controller bug workaround settings" description to point out what it does a little better.
• Improved program's startup routine.
• Fixed "GetClockPos reported 0"-error that came up on loading several 4xx0-BIOSes.
• Added preliminary support for Radeon 5870. Note that I"m still not sure about 5850"s DeviceID and that signature saving and loading will most likely not work properly on 5xx0s with this version. Furthermore, VT1165 programming is not functioning yet.

v1.21

• Fixed minor glitch in BIOS flashing procedure.
• Minor fixes and enhancements for hex editor.
• Updated WinFlash link.
• Fixed another 3650 bug... :-/ I hate that card!
• Added some DeviceIDs.
• Improved specs string analysis code.
• Added fan support for 4770.

v1.20

• Added hex editor.
• Added alternative BIOS extraction method.
• (Hopefully) fixed the 3650 Device-ID-bug for good.
• Fixed a bug concerning weird 4670 fan settings.

v1.19

• Fixed a startup bug causing the main window not to show up.
• Added experimental voltage register access. RBE automatically figures out if the card"s equipped with a VT11xx. Just use register 15 for underclocking/undervolting and register 18 for overclocking. Register tweaking will override the voltage table. Still, you should adjust your powerplay settings according to the new register values .

v1.18

• Fixed minor file saving bug for RV730 BIOSes.
• Fixed TSlope calculation bug.
• Enabled (preliminary) support for more RV770 (and derivatives) based cards.
• Fixed "HandleOneClickUpdate" bug that occurred on several BIOSes on saving.
• Updated link to WinFlash to most recent version.
• Added some Device-IDs to now officially support those cards.

v1.17

• Fixed the "Runtime error "7": out of memory" bug at the cost of the right-aligned combo boxes for the voltages in the clock settings tab.

v1.16

• Minor bug fix concerning voltage settings on 2900 XT and some other cards.
• Minor bug fix concerning method 2 hack.
• Fixed bug that caused RBE to crash occasionally when canceling the search for WinFlash.
• Fixed minor Acquire/Flash BIOS bug.
• Replaced EXE-packer because some virus scanners have been reported to raise false alarm for the old one.
• Fixed some minor file opening probes.
• Fixed a bug with checksum calculation. Actually, this was a bug by ATI again due to PCI standards violation. Damn, what a pain in the ass to find that glitch...
• Added option to enable the user to decide whether to write fan controller bug workaround settings or not.
• Added some device-IDs (thanks to TheCow).
• Added "recent files" section in the main window"s file menu.
• Added system tray icon. God knows who will use it... :-/
• Added "-systray" parameter for RBE startup in systray mode only.
• Added option to make RBE run on windows bootup.
• Added saving the program"s window position.
• Did some GUI work to make RBE look a little cooler (hopefully). Unfortunately, RBE"s file size increased significantly because of this due to embedded libraries. I"m not sure if it is worth it so far but it enabled more cool looking features to come in the future. Here's what has been done in particular:
• Enabled styles themed for all supported user controls.
• Added some icons to several buttons.
• Added some more or less matching icons throughout the GUI.
• Replaced voltage combo boxes by boxes that can be right-aligned.
• Replaced some scrollbars by more modern sliders.
• Replaced program icon.

v1.15

• Fixed bug causing an error message on loading several BIOSes (small ones like several 3870 X2 BIOSes).
• Added remote control feature for WinFlash to acquire and flash BIOSes from within RBE. Will be included in the tutorial soon.
• Superior PowerPlay should be available for more 4870 BIOSes now.
• Added link to the tutorial in the menu bar. (Info... Tutorial on how to use RBE (websource)...)
• Added display for the card"s internal voltage table (it"s in the clock settings tab).
• Fixed a bug causing the device ID being written incorrectly if it"s changed in rare cases. Coded this very drunk, there might be bugs... :-/
• Added some nice method one hack signatures (4850, 4870 X2).
• Added a feature for method one overdrive hack signature saving and loading.

v1.14

• Fixed bug with method one overdrive hack not working. Should run fine now.
• Added fan control for 4870 X2. Completely new controller chip, was a big pain in the ass to code... :-/
• Made spin up fix, powerplay functionality and voltage decrease in the one-click update for 4xx0 cards seperately selectable.
• Fixed WinFlash check sum correction bug.
• Added and fixed a lot of small things. Too many and too minor to mention all... :-)

v1.13

• Added the checksum calculation method WinFlash uses because for some files, the checksums differ. See built-in-FAQ for more on this.
• Improved checksum balancing algorithm to capture this. This is a completely new method, so there might be some minor bugs, but it is guaranteed to not corrupt any file. Notify me on any strange behavior.
• Added one-click update functionality for some 48x0 cards which corrects a well known "spin-up bug" and improves powerplay (power saving functionality).
• Added method for overdrive limit increasing. Still experimental, read built-in help text before using this. Power users only!
• Fixed bug with not properly displayed overdrive limits.

v1.12

• Added display for GDDR5 (for 4870 and future cards).
• Added check for corruption of GDDR5 BIOSes.
• Fixed bug with all voltages being "---".
• The lock for clock info is now unchecked by default.
• Added command line automated feature for BIOS loading.
• Added profile editor to edit CCC settings that can not be modified using the CCC.
• Added support for 4870 X2 (experimental).
• Fixed checked "pre-modified" checkbox on plain 4870 BIOSes.
• Added more clock info modes to meet the needs of Radeon mobility BIOSes.
• Improved some internal things.

v1.11

• Fixed values ​​written if look up table is used.
• Improved method of clock rates detection (old method was not working properly with some weired BIOSes).
• Added some FireGL device IDs.
• Added some stuff to the in-program-FAQ.
• Updated link to WinFlash.
• Fixed little bug occurring writing some BIOS infos.
• Fixed some confusion regarding 3650 cards.
• Added support for some exotic mobile card's BIOSes (experimental).
• Added support for HD 4850/4870 (experimental).
• Added fan control for most 3870 X2.

v1.10

• Some minor bugfixes concerning file drag & drop and other things.
• Changed scale for graph"s grid.
• Fixed a bug causing RBE to not recognizing some proper BIOSes.
• Graphs have been made click- and dragable.
• Added step function graph view mode for those math freaks out there complaining about the continuous graph. :-)
• Added sub vendor - and video card ID detection and also the possibility to change them.
• Eased input restrictions: Now you can use CTRL+C, CTRL+V, CTRL+X and CTRL+Z.
• Added update check functionality as requested.

v1.09

• Added complete fan control handling for 3xx0 and several 2xx0 cards. Now you have full access! :-)
• Added nice graph function displaying what is going on with any settings changed.
• Added screen shot function for graphs.
• Some minor bugfixes.
• Added some annoying hint links throughout RBE"s front end. :-/
• Added drag & drop for BIOS files.

v1.08

• 99% of code is completely rewritten.
• Tab based front end implemented. Finally! :-)
• You can now enter the fan hysteresis if lookup-table is used.
• No more pre-selection of video card type is required. RBE detects it itself now.
• You can re-open a BIOS saved with RBE now.
• Most of the BIOS information strings can be changed now. However, this is not recommended and thus is a power user feature only.
• Several bug removed, including a crash when trying to load some improper files.
• Added some new bugs:-) But seriously: Because most of the code is completely new, there will be some bugs for sure.
• Intelligent bug report system added to the code.
• Changed method to detect fan settings for 3xx0-cards. Should be more compatible now. Will reduce incorrect fan setting detection for most cards also.
• Improved checksum handling for even giant checksum differences.
• Filesize shrinked a litte because of more compact code.
• You can now unlock the states/modes dependencies if you like. This is a power user feature as well. The default setting is still locked for dependent states for more comfort.

v1.07

• First release for site.
• Added fan control setting for 29x0 cards. Oh yeah! :-)

v1.06

• Added some information on the 862 MHz lock in the FAQ section.
• Added a "BIOS image size" info line.

v1.05

• No more "fan settings detection error" message with 3450 and 3650 cards.
• Fan values ​​can be entered directly now.
• Some more minor bug fixes.

v1.04

• Added some more bytes for checksum balancing.
• Changed checksum display form mode 0F00h to 0x0F00 because that"s cooler!
• Changed adapted frame caption displaying dependent on selected video card mode.
• Changed number of displayed states/modes on 2900 XT/2900 pro 512 bit from 5 to 6.

v1.03

• Fixed dependencies between clock settings during user input.
• Revised FAQ.

v1.02

• Added more modes for 3xx0 cards (experimentally).

v1.01

• Fixed an issue with checksum display.

v1.00

• Added checksum display.

v0.99

• Revised FAQ.
• Added security request if user set 60 °C threshold for fan fix with 3850/3870 cards.

Updating the BIOS of a video adapter is extremely rare. Usually, with the “factory” BIOS, the card successfully lives its entire life, but sometimes exceptional situations occur after which it is necessary to update or restore the BIOS of the video adapter.

ATTENTION!

DO ALL FURTHER ACTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK!

In this post I will try to describe the procedure BIOS updates cards based on an Ati/AMD graphics processor.

First, let's stock up on some software tools with which we will update the BIOS for our video adapter.

If we find a BIOS for our card, we compare it with the current BIOS. Updating is possible and is not required unless the firmware is absolutely necessary. If there is a recent version of the BIOS, then download the archiver. For our experimental Powercolor Radeon HD4850, I decided to flash the BIOS with the GPU operating frequency slightly increased, by 10 MHz. :).

For those who have not found their card manufacturer, or according to GPU-Z information, the manufacturer is ATi: You can use the manufacturers’ firmware on the so-called reference design. Most often these are close partners of Ati/AMD. For example Sapphire or PowerColor. But when searching for a “non-native” BIOS, observe a mandatory condition: the type and frequency of the GPU, the size, type, frequency and width of the memory bus, as well as the connector for which the card was manufactured (AGP/PCI-E) must match.

If found required file The BIOS update procedure can begin.

Unpack the archive from winflash. Create or . Launch RBE Bios Editor, go to the menu File and select the item Load BIOS. Today we will not edit the BIOS parameters for our card, but simply in the Information window we will make sure that we downloaded exactly what we need, and not some mp3 file with music.

Therefore, we carefully read the information about the downloaded BIOS file and if nothing raises suspicions, then press the button “ Clock settings"and carefully look at the information about the frequencies and supply voltage of the graphics processor. We kindly ask you not to change anything in the open BIOS file!. After viewing, simply close the program without changing anything.

In order to be able to roll back to an older BIOS version in the event of abnormal situations or any other surprises, you need to save the current BIOS version to a file. The same GPU-Z will help us with this. We launch the utility and click on the button with the image of the microcircuit as in the picture and select the item “ Save to file".

Let's give the BIOS file a simple name, like old.rom

Now the most interesting stage begins. On a previously prepared bootable flash drive or floppy disk, copy two files to the root folder:

1. New firmware (new.rom)

2. Current saved firmware just in case. (old.rom)

2. Flasher atiflash.exe

All. Everything is ready to flash the BIOS card. Insert the floppy disk into the drive or flash drive into the USB port and reboot the machine.

Most modern motherboards They can easily boot from USB drives, so I personally use a 1Gb flash drive when updating the firmware of video cards or motherboards.

We boot the computer from our prepared media. If the download was successful, we should see a prompt for DOS commands. Usually this " C:\>«.

Now we need to enter just one single command to flash the Ati video adapter firmware.

We dial:

atiflash.exe -p 0 new.rom

atiflash.exe -p -f 0 new.rom

Brief explanation of the command keys:

atiflash.exe- this is the command to launch the flasher

-p— “programm” key that allows programming of the memory chip.

0 is the number 0 (zero). The serial number of the video adapter whose BIOS will be reprogrammed.

-f— “force” key which excludes checking of all kinds of ID cards if a “non-native” BIOS is installed.

new.rom- firmware file. the contents of which will be programmed into the card memory.

After the command is typed, press Enter. In a few seconds, the process of flashing the BIOS card will finish and you can reboot the machine from the hard drive.

That's all. If everything is done correctly and the correct BIOS image was selected during preparation, then at the end you will receive a freshly flashed card.

If something went wrong and the machine could not boot or there is no image on the monitor, then you need to roll back to the previous BIOS version that we saved in advance using GPU-Z.

To roll back, you need to find an old PCI video card, or install a “sick” card in a motherboard with an integrated graphics adapter, boot from the media we prepared with the flash driver and BIOS files.

After loading and displaying the DOS prompt, give the command:

atiflash.exe -p -f 0 old.rom

After flashing, turn off the computer, take out the PCI card, switch the monitor to our card, boot up and read google.com, trying to analyze what happened and find the error.

Particularly lazy comrades can use the BIOS firmware option from Windows environment. There is a utility called Ati Winflash for this. You can use this flasher directly from the open RBE Bios Editor. To do this, you just need to press the button “ Acquire/flash"and specify the path to the executable file Winflash.exe.

All the best, successful reflashing. ;)

So, as you already understand, today we will talk about restoring such an important device for every player as a video card. I think some people from your immediate circle (friends and friends of friends) encountered various kinds of artifacts, or simply turned on the computer one morning instead of starting to download their favorite operating system saw Malevich's magical black screen. Or heard strange squeaks from system unit. Usually this is one long and two short signals. Well, or one incessant squeak, which happens in the case of video cards with additional power when it is not connected or fails for other reasons. However, this part of the article will be given over to such things as artifacts, freezes and other pleasant little things.

In fact, the list of faults that can be repaired by software is quite narrow. These are some types of artifacts and banal freezes in 3D Mark and games, for example.

Keys, screwdrivers...

To work, we need several utilities. To diagnose artifacts, it is best to use ATITool
(gcontent)Download ATITool (/gcontent)

The utility, as the name suggests, is intended for ATI video cards, or, as it is now more correct to say, AMD. The functions for changing frequencies on NVIDIA video cards may not be available. But this is not important, because in this software - best scanner artifacts ever, fast, convenient and quite tough. Plus, through it, manipulations are carried out with frequencies, fan rotation and some other useful things that have nothing to do with repairs, but rather are useful for the enemies of all repairmen, fellow overclockers (gee-gee-gee! the author is his own enemy :) - approx. ed.).

Next is the well-known program RivaTuner
(gcontent)Download RivaTuner (/gcontent)

It is used to change frequencies, regulate fan speed, and plus such goodies as manipulating pixel shaders on NVIDIA video cards.
Well, and more specific software, of course.

GPU-Z– information utility for video cards. It also allows you to copy the BIOS from them for further editing.
(gcontent)Download GPU-Z (/gcontent)

Radeon Bios Editor– for manipulating the BIOSes of video cards from AMD
(gcontent)Download Radeon Bios Editor (/gcontent)

NiBiTor– editing NVIDIA BIOSes, respectively
(gcontent)Download NiBiTor (/gcontent)

ATIFlash– BIOS flasher for AMD video cards. NVFlash – NVIDIA flasher
(gcontent)Download ATIFlash (/gcontent)

Well, the last resort - Hexedit. It is designed to edit hex code directly
(gcontent)Download Hexedi (/gcontent)

Scary? No to me!

Diagnostics

In general, the cause of artifacts of various types is most often the RAM (video) memory or the central chip. Low-quality components soldered at the factory, premature degradation, overclocking, or small defects in the printed circuit board of the video card, in which the memory or chip cannot work as they should - these are the sources of flammable user tears. These are the things that can be repaired using various software.

In cases where the video card freezes in 3D modes, the diagnostic method remains the same, but checking is not as convenient. I advise you to use 3D Mark 2005 for this - this test loads the video subsystem quite heavily, but at the same time it is the shortest of the series 3D Mark You can download it from the following link...

There is another very peculiar type of artifact. On the ATITool scanner it looks like a chessboard of different colors mixed with the usual artifacts. This is most often observed only in 3D mode. This glitch is a frequent guest on the GeForce 8600 GT/GTS and on some other video cards in the middle and lower price range. These artifacts are caused by broken pixel pipelines in the kernel. If you are “lucky” to have such trouble, then it will be a little more difficult. But a little lower I will try to explain in detail how to deal with this.

What to do with “broken” conveyors?

Well, the actual testing methodology. With help ATITool

RivaTuner The frequency of the memory or, if that doesn’t help, the graphics processor (core) is gradually decreasing. In order not to waste time, I recommend doing this in approximately 50 megahertz increments for memory and 20 for the core.
If you are lucky and the artifacts disappear, then two options are possible.

The first is to save the frequencies at which problems are not observed as a profile. Both ATITool and RivaTuner can do this. The second is to edit the BIOS, writing these frequency values ​​there, and flash it into the video card so you never have to think about it again. See below for information on how to edit and flash BIOSes.

Fighting overheating

It's no secret that many modern video cards from the powerful category, with all their coolness and speed, heat up like stoves. And it happens that manufacturers are in such a hurry to throw a new top onto the market that they don’t even properly polish the BIOSes of video cards. Especially in terms of “smart” adjustment of cooler speed.
For this (well, not really for this, but for overclockers) both ATITool and RivaTuner have options manual settings rpm You can set as much as a percentage of the maximum speed needed for 2D or 3D mode. Well, then you can save the fan settings in a profile in the same way as the frequencies, and set this profile to autoload when Windows starts. For most users, such measures will generally work.

Editing BIOSes

Well, what if the video card is not yours, for example? Or are you even planning to float it somewhere soon (yeah, down the Yenisei - ed.)? Don't despair! Video card BIOS editors are used for these purposes. Let's look at the two main ones today:
For AMD (Radeon BIOS Editor) And NVIDIA (NiBiTor) respectively.
Nibitor. At the time of writing, the latest version available for download is code number 4.6. The functionality of this program is quite extensive - even changing the secondary timings of video memory, but in this case we do not need all this, and only a few functions are required.
Program window NiBiTor looks pretty simple. First of all, we need to read the BIOS from our video card for processing by the program.
Sequence of actions: Tools menu, then Read BIOS and Select Device - it will give the name of your video card. If you have any problems with this, then most likely you do not have the latest version of the utility. Well, or the video card is too new :)!
Click OK. Next again Tools, Read BIOS, but now Read Into NiBiTor.
The main characteristics of your video card should appear in the main NiBiTor window. They can be changed.
As described above, earlier in Riva Tuner you found the frequencies at which your video card began to work normally. Now these frequencies should be rewritten into the corresponding fields of NiBiTor. Attention! Small moment: NVIDIA video cards Since the advent of the GeForce line of the eighth series, the core frequency has been divided into two indicators: the frequency of the core itself and, separately, the shader unit. But when you changed the core frequency in RivaTuner, I think you noticed that the value for the shader unit also changed. Rewrite both of them from RivaTuner.
With memory, everything is much simpler - you just need to change a couple of numbers. All is ready? Then the procedure is as follows: File menu, Save BIOS. The file name must be in English letters or numbers and preferably shorter. That's it, the BIOS file is ready for flashing.

Radeon Bios Editor

This utility is a little more difficult to understand. And she has a small problem. Unlike NiBiTor, it is not yet capable of reading BIOSes directly from video cards. To do this we use GPU-Z - latest version currently 0.28. Here, to the right of the BIOS Version strip, there is an icon depicting a chip with a green arrow. When clicked, the Save to File and Submit to on-line database options appear. Of course, we are interested in Save to File. Next, select any location and file name you like and click OK. The BIOS is saved in bin format, not rom, but Radeon Bios Editor will read it.
Now in Radeon BIOS Editor we select the Load BIOS option and set the program to our file. The main RBE window is absolutely overloaded with information! But we are interested in the Clock settings menu. There are many different frequencies, but since you already know the numbers you need (we found them out using ATITool, or maybe even RivaTuner), then just change the stock values ​​to the ones you need.
Radeon BIOS Editor has one advantage over NiBiTor: on the latest video cards from AMD, it is able to flash Fan Settings values, that is, fan operating modes, into the BIOS. This is done, who would have thought, on the Fan Settings tab.

Seamstress-motor operator

BIOS ready? Now Save BIOS! RBE has a built-in flasher, but it doesn’t always work correctly, so it’s better to flash it as expected from under DOS.
To flash firmware from DOS, we need either a good old floppy disk or a flash drive. In the case of a floppy disk, it is enough to format it as bootable and upload the downloaded firmware files and the BIOS file onto it. In the case that is very likely in the modern world, when you do not have an FDD drive, you will have to use a flash drive, which is not so easy. Describe within the framework of this article the creation bootable flash drive I won't, it will take up a lot of space. Maybe some other time :). Let's assume you have it.
Here are the parameters that need to be specified for each flash driver:

Parameters nvflash -5 -6 (your BIOS file).rom Parameters atiflash -p -f 0 (your BIOS file).rom

Death to chess!

Well, for dessert, I promised to tell you how to deal with artifacts codenamed “chess field.” On ATI video cards I have never seen them in my practice, and even on GeForce - only in some models. For this purpose we need Riva Tuner And HexEdit .
In the Riva Tuner window, click the top settings section. In the window that opens, select NVStrap Driver. On the Active pixel/vertex units configuration tab, clear the Determined by VGA BIOS value and set the Custom value. The Customize tab becomes active...

Actually, here it is, power over pixel conveyors! By unchecking and checking them, you can enable and disable these same conveyors. Which is not that difficult at all. The only thing is that application requires a reboot.

But how to cut them off permanently without using RivaTuner? Nothing complicated! If you paid attention to what happened during the checkbox game, you saw that when you uncheck or check a box in the conveyor control window, there is a stripe at the top in which values ​​like 000F0703 flash, and when you turn off the conveyors, the value changes, let’s say , to 000F0701. Actually, we don’t need anything else. Now HexEdit comes into play.

In the program window, through the “File” menu, open your saved BIOS. Now click on the “Editing” tab. It has a "Find" function. There we switch from the “String” value to the “Code” value. Now you can start entering the values ​​that we identified in RivaTuner. But there is a small point: the value is entered not in the same way as it looked there, but in a mirror way. For example, my value 000F0703 should be entered as 03070F00, moving the characters from the end to the beginning in pairs. Found? Now you need to change the value. In my case, it was necessary to change 03 to 01. This can be seen from RivaTuner. If the parameter is found twice, it’s okay - change it in both places. Now menu “File”, “Record as...”. Write immediately with the extension rom.

Well, that's all. Now you can flash the corrected BIOS. For some time now there have been quite a lot of such video cards from some brands, so if you or your friends accidentally had such a problem after the warranty on the video card expired, then you know what to do.