Radeon 9700 PRO BIOS v8.004

WarFlail · Feb 2, 2003, 05:24 AM

I checked the BIOS version of my Gigabyte Radeon 9700 PRO. It says 8.003 (or at least, that is what I interpret from BK8.3.2 VR000.000.008.003.002.000).

Having had some instability problems in the form of stuck thread crashes and running out of options, I am contemplating flashing the graphics card's BIOS to v.8.004, which I found at Omega's site.

However, I am always wary of flashing BIOS's for the sake of flashing. Especially since I have no idea what is the difference between 8.003 and 8.004.

Does anybody know whether 8.004 is "official", and what differences are there over the previous version?

Also, is there anything specific I need to know before I flash a Gigabyte graphics card?

Thanks,

-=W=-

Nilz · Feb 5, 2003, 11:36 AM

Is the bios the same for the non Pro verison ?

PCaddictt · Feb 5, 2003, 12:28 PM

i too want to flash my gigabyte radeon 9700 pro

is it ok too use the 8.004 bios have got the f1 bios from gigabyte is this the same ?

also will this cure the problem i get when starting my pc my card causes a long beep when i first turn and no monitor response until i reset then hey presto a-ok(any ideas)

warflail m8 nice rig!!

WarFlail · Feb 5, 2003, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PCaddictt
i too want to flash my gigabyte radeon 9700 pro

is it ok too use the 8.004 bios have got the f1 bios from gigabyte is this the same ?

It might be newer. I do know that the BIOS version that came with my Gigabyte card was 8.003, and recently I flashed it with the f1 file from Gigabyte's site. Now the version number has changed to a rather mysterious 113-94206-102, whatever version that's supposed to be...

Quote:

also will this cure the problem i get when starting my pc my card causes a long beep when i first turn and no monitor response until i reset then hey presto a-ok(any ideas)

The system beep comes after the graphics card has been identified, doesn't it? I thought this because I botched the flash initially and ended up with a system that would turn on, have the fans spinning, but no system beep and no POST. There's no harm in flashing your card's BIOS, but make sure you have a PCI graphics card handy, and better yet, boot up to the DOS prompt using your PCI card and then flash the AGP one. Also, remember to save a copy of the existing BIOS using the flashrom -s command. And whatever you do, do not ever lock the serial ROM with the flashrom -l command, like I did!

BTW you're not overclocking anything, are you? The graphics card, the motherboard, etc? Might be a voltage problem.

Quote:

warflail m8 nice rig!!

Heh, thanks!

Yes, it is nice, when it's all working...

-=W=-

daos · Feb 17, 2003, 11:46 PM

heck yes you can flash your BIOS with the 8004. i have a sapphire9700Pro and i flashed mine and adjusted my memory timings. im running 410/730!! my highest without the BIOS was 380/688. thats a hell of an increase if you ask me. of course i did upgrade my heatsink on my card but that should only affect my core. my memory was IMO the most impressive. i have never seen a BIOS do so much for anything as far as performance was concerned.

i recommend this to anyone that knows what they are doing.

dipstick · Feb 27, 2003, 12:50 PM

I just flashed mine last night and it seems to be working good. Haven't had time to test it yet, but I used the one that's on Omega's site and they legit. Let me know if you need step by step instuctions

PS. I have a retail ATi but I think it should work the same on your Gigabyte card.

Oni28 · Feb 28, 2003, 08:07 AM

Ati flash cant identify the card or bios. Do you think its safe to update the bios with the one of omeges site. Sorry if this is in the wrong place. First time. I have backed up the old bios

Managed to get the bios info

Radeon 9700 Pro SAMSUNG DDR BIOS B8480.01220

2003/01/22 13:52

is this newer than the bios on omegas corner.

dipstick · Feb 28, 2003, 10:53 AM

Oh yeah, that's definitely newer. The 8004 there is from 10/17/02; I wouldn't use that one

DeathBringer · Feb 28, 2003, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kakarot
I just flashed mine last night and it seems to be working good. Haven't had time to test it yet, but I used the one that's on Omega's site and they legit. Let me know if you need step by step instuctions

PS. I have a retail ATi but I think it should work the same on your Gigabyte card.

kakarot,
I would like your step by step if you don't mind. You can email it to me or post back here. I'd appreciate it.

What util's are you using to do it. I d/l the 8004 from Omega's site and tried to open it with RAEdit and it says it's not a vaild ATI BIOS. I can open the 8003 bin file though, just not the 8004 ;-/

The version I read off SiSoft Sandra is showing

Release Date of 2/08/02
Version 0505.837

Can I assume this is the 8003 version of bios?? Where else can I get a newer version?

I have a retail 9700 Pro "Built by ATI" board..FYI

Any help is appreciated!!

dipstick · Feb 28, 2003, 05:16 PM

I used ATiFlash and the 8004 bios available at Omega's website. Download both and unzip them in on a floppy(preformat it as a startup disk) I will try to give the easiest directions for you so you can't really mess up.

1. Boot up from floppy
2. Type: atiflash.exe
3. Type: atiflash -i (to check the adapter # listed; should be 0, if not remember this #)
(I will use 0 as the display adapter #, but replace it with yours if different whenever you see it below)
4. Type: atiflash -s 0 8003b
(to save your current bios incase something happens; you can replase 8003b with any filename you want)
5. Type: atiflash -p 0 8004N
(should get a responce saying xxx of xxx bytes successfully writen)
6. Reboot by removing disk and pressing ctrl-alt-del

PS. When you unzip the the bios from Omega there will be two of them inside one a 8004N for NTSC(North american cards) and a 8004P for PAL(European). Use the one depending on where you live and replace the above letter in step 5.

Let me know if you have anymore questions before attempting this. You wan't to be absolutely sure when you do this

DeathBringer · Mar 1, 2003, 01:43 AM

Thanks Kakarot! Worked like a charm and I'm up to Omega's 8004. The only game I seem to have trouble with is Tribes 2. I have gone through enough forums to try everything I could to get my FPS goos and steady, but can't. I get between 23-90 FPS w/o AA or anything high valued in graphics. All other games, the 9700 Pro is pretty much flawless. I play T2 alot too, and makes me want to go back to my Ti4600

Any Ideas from anyone??

I bumped up AGP voltage to 1.7, still get crappy performance. I read that T2 was built more around NV extensions.

Anyways, thanks for all the help!!

DeathBringer

System Specs:

P4 2.8 Ghz
Antec case 500w PSU
512 DDR PC3200 CAS2 400Mhz
Maxtor 80gig x2 ATA133
Soyo P4X400 Dragon Ultra Platinum Mobo
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Audigy Gamer SoundCard
Saitek X45 Joystick

dipstick · Mar 1, 2003, 11:33 AM

Glad to hear it worked for you, that's awesome. As for Tribes 2, I must say that it's got more bugs than GTA3. I used to play it when I had a GF1, but even since I haven't been able to play it at all. Plus I don't remember my password and no one will reply when I email them. Anyways, I don't think you'll get it to run any better and you should be happy you can even run it. It's a shame too, because that game could of been on top of the online world.

Konge Odin · Mar 4, 2003, 05:34 AM

Hi, ive got some problems with games (d3d)running in 8x agp, and I got to use Powerstrip to set the agp to 4x everytime I start the machine so that my games will work.
I got my radeon9700pro early in October, so I got the bios from August.
Are you sure the bios is working with all the revisions of the card. That the newest bios is not meant for aslightly different chip version?
I tried the gigabyte upgrade once but got worse performance and no 8x agp. So I went back to my old saved bios again.
Is the new one from OMEGA better?
What will the new bios version(from october 17th) fix.

I am helping out as computer support at my school and fixing computers, but this has been ruining much of my computer experience since I got my card.
Hope you guys will help me out.

AMDxp2000+
SL-75frv (kt400 from soltek)
512mb 333mHzDDRram
300wcase
Samsung dvdrom
Samsung cdrw
Soundblaster audigy platinumEx
(Club3d (-shipping original radeons)) Radeon 9700Pro

dipstick · Mar 4, 2003, 11:04 AM

Well, I never had any probs with my card, but I do like to stay up to date. Also my card is a rev1.0 and this bios has worked flawless. I can also OC the mem 10MHz higher now for some weird reason. If you have done this before, definitely give them a shot. This bios is from a retail card.

hunky · May 26, 2003, 10:09 AM

need your help kakarot i am going to flash the video card to the 8004 bios version but i am a noob when it comes to flashing and very scared to do it ive read your steo by step above and still have ?s. When you say doenload and unzip on floppy do this then save to floppy or just put the files on floppy from the omega site i have the 2 files on my desktop now sorry if im stupid but dont want to make a mistake with a 350 dollar video card lol u know what i mean.... plz your help is appreciated thank you alot ok ive followed your instructions but when i type atiflash -p 0 8004N . iget this message serial rom "8004N" file open error ??? any ideas lol remember im a noob