Fixing a Bad BIOS Flash on the 4870

[Edin]

Here imags of HD4870 from bottom and top side (click on image for full size)

[Solus Corvus]

Is everyone with dead cards having the LEDs light up differently then under "normal" opperation? Do we know what the different LEDs represent?

[101]

Oh, and if this helps... ALL four have three red lights that illuminate upon power on, not all 4 of them.

Sorry, but that comment cracked me up...

[jimmyz]

thank you for the picture un fortunately the fb pin appears to go through the board. I will need to look at it with a little more sleep under my brain...lol. I will check it all out in the morning, good news is the chip is a legendary Volterra, the same one as the hd2900 and the 3870X2 so we know the pin-out at least. there is a small through hole near the second pin from the bottom left that should be the FB that is where to check resistance. I will be on in the morning armed with coffee, check back then (about 8hrs from now) I know you are in australia.

I feel I have a good grip on the cicuit layout but I'm no engineer, seems there is some components missing on one of the 2 v-dimm circuits which is odd. I will think about it overnight and be on in a few hours. good news is I don't see any physical damage.

BTW you could host on imageshack and just post the thumbnail, then the page will load faster, and we will be able to get the full size by clicking on the pic. but I do love the clarity , nice pics.

[101]

In all seriousness I REALLY hope this is not some sort of temp cycling issue associated with the RoHS compliant BGAs. Anyone have a card fail that was only ever water or high end air cooled? Perhaps the stock cooling is grossly inadequate and holding these parts back. If the core temps are easily hitting 80ºC+ there is probably a fair amount of mechanical stress on the package interconnect.

[mr2sw21]

Full size pics of HIS 4870 can be found here -swapped the cooler for a TT Duo Orb running great.

does that mean once we get aftermarket heat sink the problem solve? Any one try it on their "dead card"?

[twohype]

I'm pretty sure that's what mine does - I already filed an RMA with the egg, this crap is going back in the box. Maybe I'll buy another when they've sorted this out, maybe not.

If someone flashes a working card and volt mod's it with a modified bios from a tool which ATI "NEVER" indicated was safe for a 4800 series card - Why is that ATI's or NewEgg's issue? If you can sucker NewEgg more power to you Of course I'm not saying that you modified your card since obviously yours was DOA

[Edin]

does that mean once we get aftermarket heat sink the problem solve? Any one try it on their "dead card"?

The card is simply not running at all.. the only thing working on it seems to be the fan... the heatsink (stock) is completely cold (as metal is sold on room temperature) so it doesn't matter what heatsink you put on it...

[Edin]

If someone flashes a working card and volt mod's it with a modified bios from a tool which ATI "NEVER" indicated was safe for a 4800 series card - Why is that ATI's or NewEgg's issue? If you can sucker NewEgg more power to you Of course I'm not saying that you modified your card since obviously yours was DOA

The card was idling around 80C for me with stock fan/heatsink/BIOS settings so dont you think that's a bit high? Also I've done BIOS flashing quite a few times before for motherboard and VGA and never had something like this happen... also the flashing tool I used had a statement it suported HD4850 and HD4870 otherwise I wouldn't have used it... also the card was working fine even AFTER the BIOS flash and stoped working only 1-2h later... and you know, it would be more helpfull if you kept your useless comments for yourself... you got a working HD4870? If yes and you are happy with it then good for you, if not... don't comment on things you haven't had experience with... maybe if you did get one and it would die on you "justlike that" you would be here talking other way around...

[ghost101]

The card is idling around 80C for me with stock fan/heatsink/BIOS settings so dont you think that's a bit high?

ATI picked the fan profile and if they dont think its high, nor do I. the majority of people who buy these as well as OEMs will sell this and no one will ever know what the temperature is and the card will live out its life. It is high if you plan on overclocking, but then...

Also I've done BIOS flashing quite a few times before for motherboard and VGA andnever had something like this happen... also the flashing tool I used had a statement it suported HD4850 and HD4870 otherwise I wouldn't have used it... also the card was working fine even AFTER the BIOS flash and stoped working only 1-2h later

Doesnt matter. Your warranty is null and void and so isnt ATIs problem. Also the tool clearly stated that hd4xxx support is experimental.

... and you know, it would be more helpfull if you kept your useless comments for yourself... you got a working HD470? If yes and you are happy with it then good for you, if not... don't comment on things you haven't had experience with... maybe if you did get one and it would die on you "justlike that" you would be here talking other wy around...

Erm, he can say what he wants.

[Theta]

If someone flashes a working card and volt mod's it with a modified bios from a tool which ATI "NEVER" indicated was safe for a 4800 series card - Why is that ATI's or NewEgg's issue? If you can sucker NewEgg more power to you Of course I'm not saying that you modified your card since obviously yours was DOA

Okay, this BS is not helpful at all.

Some of us are trying to get to the bottom of why this is happening. In some cases, this has NOTHING to do with flashing. We had 4 fail on us, and they were simply put into Crossfire mode.

I appreciate that some may have modded, etc... But stop threadcrapping for the sake of us that actually would like to get this solved.

[ghost101]

Okay, this BS is not helpful at all.

Some of us are trying to get to the bottom of why this is happening. In some cases, this has NOTHING to do with flashing. We had 4 fail on us, and they were simply put into Crossfire mode.

I appreciate that some may have modded, etc... But stop threadcrapping for the sake of us that actually would like to get this solved.

I dont think he meant to do that. But when some people do flash the bios and then file an rma it results in higher prices for everyone. So I agree with him.

But if you genuinely didnt do anything, an rma will fix things surely?

[Theta]

I dont think he meant to do that. But when some people do flash the bios and then file an rma it results in higher prices for everyone. So I agree with him.

But if you genuinely didnt do anything, an rma will fix things surely?

I do understand that, but please realize that an RMA won't help one bit.

Our distributors are out of stock, and NewEgg isn't exactly stocked fully on these.

I am interested in seeing what can be gleaned from all of this...

I do want to point out that several of us were not modding the BIOS, however.

[Edin]

Here one though on my end on maybe what made my cards die... when I flashed the BIOS I did not change any GPU/MEM clock or voltage values, just the MIN and MAX temperature value for the fan profile...the fans were working much faster after the BISO flashing and the GPU idle temperature reported by CCC was much lower (abour 47C insteadof inital 79C). I flashed the second card afterwards also and its fan was spinning faster also and I could feel the aircomming at the back of the card was getting colder and cards heatsink (the big heavy heatsink acting metal plate) was no longer burning my finger (initially I could not hold my hand on it for more than 1-2sec, it was that hot)

Then I modified the BIOS again and set the MIN temp just bit higher as the fas were too noisy now even at idle... after second flash I was happy with result, shut down windows, switched off the PSU in power sitch and connected big 200mm fan mount on side of the case and closed it... wanted to boot again and then it was dead.

Right now, the fan on the card is spinning quite fast. I tried multiple times to flas with original BIOS and every time it said it was a successful flash. I think my only hope of card recovery is new flash utility... just don't know if I can wait very long, and who knows maybe the cards are not recoverable at all any more... I think W1zzard is our only hope

[ripken204]

how much heat can gddr5 take?

we should assume that ATI is telling the truth that the 4870 gpu can take 80C idle, but woudlnt that mean that the gddr5 would be under ALOT of heat as well?
if some people have reported that just touching the heatsink burns their finger.. then imagine what the ram feels like..

[jimmyz]

Here one though on my end on maybe what made my cards die... when I flashed the BIOS I did not change any GPU/MEM clock or voltage values, just the MIN and MAX temperature value for the fan profile...the fans were working much faster after the BISO flashing and the GPU idle temperature reported by CCC was much lower (abour 47C insteadof inital 79C). I flashed the second card afterwards also and its fan was spinning faster also and I could feel the aircomming at the back of the card was getting colder and cards heatsink (the big heavy heatsink acting metal plate) was no longer burning my finger (initially I could not hold my hand on it for more than 1-2sec, it was that hot)

Then I modified the BIOS again and set the MIN temp just bit higher as the fas were too noisy now even at idle... after second flash I was happy with result, shut down windows, switched off the PSU in power sitch and connected big 200mm fan mount on side of the case and closed it... wanted to boot again and then it was dead.
Right now, the fan on the card is spinning quite fast. I tried multiple times to flas with original BIOS and every time it said it was a successful flash. I think my only hope of card recovery is new flash utility... just don't know if I can wait very long, and who knows maybe the cards are not recoverable at all any more... I think W1zzard is our only hope

RBE has a warning about using a fresh bios to mod each time, don't re-use the same bios, mod a fresh copy each time. in order to correct the checksum the program needs to change other entries in the bios in order for the checksum to match. so always use a fresh bios each time you create a modded bios. just make a copy of the original or dl from the TechPowerUp VGA bios database.

[Edin]

Yeah I made that bit of an error as I didn't use original BIOS to made the second flash. I don't know if that's what caused my cards to die, I wouldn't be surprised if it did make some problem, but all other guys didn't do this and they still have same problem. I did download original BIOS file from TechPowerUp VGA bios database and I flashed both card with it on multiple occasions (DOS and windows) but yeah, as you know already it didn't fix it

[Calmatory]

Jimmyz, go get some sleep man.

All the defect cards are from HIS?? Or are there other brands aswell? Asus? Club3D?

Has anyone tried to contact AMD/ATI about this issue yet? What about brands?

[Edin]

Powercolor brand here...

[jimmyz]

Yeah I made that bit of an error as I didn't use original BIOS to made the second flash. I don't know if that's what caused my cards to die, I wouldn't be surprised if it did make some problem, but all other guys didn't do this and they still have same problem. I did download original BIOS file from TechPowerUp VGA bios database and I flashed both card with it on multiple occasions (DOS and windows) but yeah, as you know already it didn't fix it

I doubt the flash was involved period. I think the ram or some other cause is to blame, lots of stock cards are dead too.

[ripken204]

the flash may have just caused the problem to come out quicker.
this really needs to be resolved, you guys with problems should call amd and complain.

[Calmatory]

the flash may have just caused the problem to come out quicker.
this really needs to be resolved, you guys with problems should call amd and complain.

Only those who didn't overclock or flash bios.

[halo112358]

I wish someone would reply who has a MM and a camera. I think we can eliminate some possibilities if we can get some measurements. and short of me bouncing a check to get one I am unable to help, or someone could mail me a dead card to check.

What do you want? I've got both handy. Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I've been kinda busy the last couple of days.

My card is a Sapphire by the way, I've got a powercolor en route too. I tried to reach ATI support on Friday, but they close at 12:30pm pacific time on fridays :p.

[Theta]

My company is running a number of stock 4870s, and so far, 4 have died. Furthermore, several other users here did NOT flash yet, and still had this happen. My posts have reflected these facts... Please contact Sylvan if you read the "entire thread" - you need a comprehension tweak.

Thanks for your addition... Here's the door.

[Wesker]

I've got two HD4870's on order, and I'm entitled to my own opinion and speculation.