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Beginners Guide: Flashing a Video Card BIOS
We recently ran an article on flashing (reprogramming) the BIOS (Basic Input/Output
System) of your motherboard to enable new features and fix errors. That got us thinkingthat we'd only covered half the story. Sure, hardware enthusiasts have been upgrading
the BIOS on their motherboards for years, but what about the other components of acomputer system?
Video cards in particular have an interesting history in relation to the BIOS flashingprocedure. While motherboard BIOS fixes generally add support for new processors andfix hardware glitches, video card BIOS updates have the potential to do much more.Enterprising tech-heads have discovered instances where a video card can actually be
transformed by a BIOS update, activating hidden features and potential buriedperformance aspects by the manufacturer (generally for marketing purposes) .
In this article, PCstats will describe the process of flashing (re-programming) your videocard's BIOS chip. We cover the potential benefits and risks of the procedure, as well as
specific steps for both ATI and Nvidia cards. In case anything goes wrong, atroubleshooting section brings upthe rear, and may save yours.
What Does A Video Card BIOSDo?
Before an Operating system likeWindows XP loads and the software
drivers take control of your videocard's functions, the video BIOSinitializes the card. As soon as it
receives power from themotherboard, the BIOS activatesthe card and identifies itself to themotherboard BIOS.
At this point, the graphic processor and video memory clock speeds are also set by the
BIOS, though these may be overridden by the drivers or other utilities once theoperating system has loaded.
In short, the video BIOS starts and identifies the card, and provides its initial crop of settings.
In the current age of the unified video driver, where manufacturers like ATI and Nvidia provide a single set of drivers for all their video products, the way the video driversinteract with a card also depends on how the card is identified by the BIOS. Thus, 'new'
features can be activated by using a different BIOS on the sameGraphics processor.
Why Flash It?
Well, there are several good reasons to flash your video card'sBIOS. For one thing, some manufacturers have and will release
BIOS updates for their video cards, though this has becomeconsiderably rarer in the last few years. These updates may
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increase the stability of the card, eliminate glitches and problems, and possibly increaseperformance. A more compelling reason is the lure of getting your video card to performto its maximum possible potential.
Video card manufacturers have been known to create artificial product divisions,
whereby the same model of Graphics processor is packaged with different memory andBIOS settings to create a higher end and lower end version of what is essentially thesame item. As the video BIOS governs the speeds the GPU and memory can be set to,changing this can have a huge effect on video card performance and overclockability.
The same graphics processor can be set to run at a lower speed so that the company canhave entry level and high-end versions of the same part without the expense of commissioning two different graphics core designs.
A good recent example of this sort of thing is with ATI's Radeon9800 PRO and Radeon XT cards. Many 256MB 9800 Pro cards
(and some 128MB ones too) actually use the same graphicsprocessor core as the 'faster' and more feature laden 9800 XTcards. A simple BIOS flash will increase the speed of the card andenable features that were not previously available to the 9800Pro,like temperature monitoring and the 'overdrive' driveroverclocking option.
Please note that this is a possibility specific to the one type of video card only, andcannot be duplicated with other products. Similar processes exist for various other typesof video cards though. A quick bit of research on the Internet will turn up many accountsof this.
It's fair to note at this point that many of the gains achieved by successfully flashing anew BIOS onto your card can be directly attributed to the new BIOS increasing the GPUand memory speeds. These gains can also be realized with overclocking, at less risk to
the card. What cannot be duplicated though, are the addition of new features and thesheer pleasure of seeing your video card identified as a model that costs $100 more.
The procedures for Flashing anATI BIOS
Now let's look at the actual procedure of flashing your video card's BIOS. Please keep inmind that this procedure can render your card useless if something goes badly wrong.Proceed at your own risk, and make a BIOS backup as detailed below.
! Warranty And Safety Issues !Be aware that flashing your video card BIOS in an attempt to change or upgrade thecard will certainly void any warranty you may have with the manufacturer, so performthis procedure at your own risk. Certain manufacturers, most notably ATI, consider any attempt to flash the BIOS as a violation of warranty terms and will withdraw support even if you were not attempting to change the card's capabilities. Also note that if you
attempt to considerably increase the performance of your video card by this method, asin overclocking, you are increasing the stress on the hardware, which may cause it tofail.
BIOS Flash for ATI video cards
What you will need:
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1. At least one blank 1.44 HD floppy disk2. A copy of the FLASHROM utility
3. A compatible BIOS file for your video card. Try here or search the web for othercompatible BIOS files and information.
4. Any drivers that may be required. If you are attempting to change your BIOS tothat of a different video card, you should check to see if it requires different
drivers.
1. Making an ATI BIOS flash boot disk
All video BIOS flash operations need to be performed in DOS, so we will need to make aDOS boot disk first. There are two easy ways to do this; the first is to go to bootdisk.com and download one of the DR DOS disk image files they link to on the website. Run the.exe file to create a clean DOS boot disk in your A:\ drive.
Otherwise, you can create a boot disk from within Windows XP by inserting a floppy andopening 'my computer' then right clicking on the 'A:\' drive and choosing 'format.' From
the format window, check the 'create an MS-DOS startup disk' option and click 'ok.' Nowthat you have a DOS boot disk, copy the BIOS file you downloaded and theFLASHROM.exe file onto the disk.
2. Making a backup of your ATI video card BIOS
Before we flash the card with the new BIOS version or type, you should always make abackup of the current BIOS, in case of disaster.
To do this boot your computer with the BIOS flash disk we just created. At the 'A:\'prompt, type 'flashrom.exe -s 0 backup.rom' and press ENTER. The FLASHROM utility
will create a backup of your video card's BIOS (backup.rom) on the BIOS flash disk. Wecan use this to restore your card's original BIOS if necessary.
3. Flashing your ATI video card's BIOS
To flash the BIOS of your ATI card, type the following from the 'A:\' prompt:
'flashbios -p 0 (the name of the new BIOS file you downloaded including the fileextension)' then press enter.
FLASHROM will proceed to overwrite your old BIOS with the contents of the new file. If you see any error messages, make sure not to restart the system. Instead, consult the
troubleshooting section at the end of this article.
Note that in certain cases (such as if you are trying to replace your video card's BIOSwith that of another card) the procedure may halt if the BIOS types do not match. In thiscase, you can use a separate switch (-f) to force FLASHROM to do the operation despitethe potential problem. You should only do this if you are absolutely sure that the newBIOS file will work with your card.
To force the BIOS flash type:
'FLASHROM -f -p 0 (the name of the BIOS file you downloaded including the fileextension)'
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If everything seems to have gone correctly, restart your system. Watch the post screenfor the video card information (it will be the first item displayed on the screen after you
boot). Make sure the new BIOS has taken hold and that your operating system bootscorrectly. Depending on the BIOS version you used and the video card, you may need toinstall new drivers too.
Congratulations! You have successfully changed your video card's BIOS. Next,PCstats.com looks at the procedure for flashing the BIOS of an nVidia based videocard.
The procedures for Flashing annVidia BIOS
Now let's look at the procedure of flashing your nVidia video card's BIOS. Please keep inmind that this procedure can render your card useless if something goes badly wrong.Proceed at your own risk, and make a BIOS backup as detailed below.
! Warranty And Safety Issues !
Be aware that flashing your video card BIOS in an attempt to change or upgrade thecard will certainly void any warranty you may have with the manufacturer, so performthis procedure at your own risk. Certain manufacturers consider any attempt to flash the
BIOS as a violation of warranty terms and will withdraw support even if you were not attempting to change the card's capabilities. Also note that if you attempt toconsiderably increase the performance of your video card by this method, as inoverclocking, you are increasing the stress on the hardware, which may cause it to fail sooner.
BIOS Flash for Nvidia video cards
What you will need:
1. At least one blank 1.44 HD floppy disk.2. A copy of the NVFLASH utility 3. A compatible BIOS file for your video card. Here's a link to get you started.
Remember to do your research first. Just because a BIOS file is available does notmean it will work with your card.
4. Any drivers that may be required. If you are attempting to change your BIOS tothat of a different video card, you should check to see if it requires different
drivers.5.
1. Making an Nvidia BIOS flash boot disk
All video BIOS flash operations need to be performed in DOS, so we will need to make aDOS boot disk first. There are two easy ways to do this; the first is to go to bootdisk.com
and download one of the DR DOS disk image files they link to on the website. Run the.exe file to create a clean DOS boot disk in your A:\ drive.
Otherwise, you can create a boot disk from within Windows XP by inserting a floppy andopening 'my computer' then right clicking on the 'A:\' drive and choosing 'format.' Fromthe format window, check the 'create an MS-DOS startup disk' option and click 'ok.' Nowthat you have a DOS boot disk, copy the BIOS file you downloaded and theNVFLASH.exe file onto the disk.
2. Making a backup of your Nvidia video card BIOS
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Before you flash your video card with the new BIOS version you downloaded, you shouldalways make a backup of the current BIOS, in case you run into trouble later on.
To do this boot your computer with the BIOS flash disk we just created. At the 'A:\'prompt, type 'nvflash.exe -b backup.rom' and press ENTER. The FLASHROM utility will
create a backup of your video card's BIOS (backup.rom) on the BIOS flash disk. We canuse this to restore your card's original BIOS if necessary.
3. Flashing the BIOS on your Nvidia card
Once you have made the backup file of the old BIOS, it's time to overwrite it with thenew value we downloaded. Here's what to do:
From the 'A:\' prompt, type 'nvflash -p -u -f (name of the new BIOS file including the file
extension)' and press ENTER. NVFLASH will now overwrite your old BIOS informationwith the new values. If you see any error messages or odd results, do not restart yoursystem. Consult the troubleshooting section below for further instructions.
If everything seemed to work correctly, restart your system and watch the video cardinformation as it flashes on screen during the POST process (it will be the first thing on
the screen after you power on). Make sure it is correct and that your operating systemloads correctly. You may need to install drivers if you have changed the BIOS to that of adifferent type of video card.
Congratulations! You have just achieved another step on the way to mastering yourcomputer... :-)
Troubleshooting Section - What
If Something Went Wrong? You made your backup right? Good. If you saw an error message during the video cardBIOS flashing process, the worst thing you can do is restart your system, so DO NOT
RESTART the computer. If incorrect or corrupted information has been written over yourvideo card's BIOS, you will likely get garbled video, no picture at all, or even a dead cardfor your troubles. Instead, reflash the card right away with the backup you made.
Assuming you called the backup 'backup.rom' type this from the 'A:\' prompt:
'nvflash -p -u -f backup.rom' for Nvidia video cards using NVFLASH or
'flashrom -p 0 backup.rom' for ATI video cards using FLASHROM.
And press ENTER.
Your old BIOS information will be reprogrammed onto the card, and hopefully will put
everything right. If you see no errors during this process, restart and hunt for a differentBIOS file to try.
If for some reason you restarted the system after an error, or you lost video for someother reason, you can still salvage things, but it's going to take a little hardware. You willneed a PCI video card installed in your system before you can attempt the rescue. Note
that if you are using an Nvidia AGP card, trying to use an Nvidia PCI card to repair it may
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cause problems with NVFLASH. It's better to use a different brand of PCI card for thisoperation.
Once you have a PCI video card installed alongside your ailing AGP card, plug themonitor into the PCI card and boot the system with your BIOS flash disk. From the 'A:\'prompt, type the following:
'nvflash -p -u -f backup.rom' for Nvidia video cards using NVFLASH or
'flashrom -p 0 backup.rom' for ATI video cards using FLASHROM
Then, press ENTER. If the flash goes correctly, you can shut down the system, removethe PCI card and replug your AGP video. It should be back to normal.
