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nodice1996
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16 May 2010, 3:48 pm

Today I attempted to flash the bios on my video card to resolve issues wen playing games. Rather than solving the problem it knocked out my video card completely. Also, strangely, I can't use onboard video or another video card. Is it possible that it also fried my motherboard? I know that the card is fried because I can't use it in another computer. What are my options. (Sorry if this is poorly written, but I'm barely keeping myself from having a meltdown)


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TheSpecialKid
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16 May 2010, 5:30 pm

The video card may or may not be able to be saved.
Best thing you could do, is to find out if there's still warranty on the card, even when flashed.
But I wouldn't set my expectations too high on that.

Regarding the onboard. Have you tried removing the old video card before booting on the onboard?
If yes, try clearing the CMOS.

The card might still be able to be saved, but it requires that you had the wrong flash-file and the right flash-file, and of course you'll have to know what card it is.
Then you can boot the computer with the card in it, and flash the card (with blank monitor!) with the original flash-file, and if, and only if, the wrong flash didn't do any damage, you'll be able to restart after 15 min. and get a living video card again!

This also requires you to know what buttons to push while booting without any image.
The reason I wanted you to have the bad flash-file, is that you can edit it, to see if there's any damage it could have done. (Memory clock, etc.)

(Sorry about my english, I think i have a really bad evening!)



nodice1996
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18 May 2010, 6:21 am

If I can put the right bios file on a CD I'll be able to do it. The warranty expired a month after I bought the card. Any suggestions on finding the file?(Sapphiretech ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCI-E HDMI 512 MB)
-Thanks


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CloudWalker
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18 May 2010, 3:12 pm

There are some on http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/. Since your card is already bricked, I guess there's no harm to try. One important thing to look out for is whether your card is of reference design or a custom one. Sapphire almost always has both, and the non-reference design(s) usually have and may actually need different BIOSes.

btw flashing video card bios rarely fix anything nowadays. Basically everything is done through the driver and it is the first place to look if you have any issues. There are a few things the driver won't normally touch: voltage, clock speed, fan speed. But these should only concern you if you overclock your card, and even then it's safer to use software to change these settings rather than flashing the bios.

Oh, have the fixed the issue with your motherboard?



nodice1996
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18 May 2010, 3:15 pm

Does anyone know how to boot freedos from a live cd, I know there's a number/letter that I need to enter, anyone?


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CloudWalker
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18 May 2010, 3:43 pm

Haven't used it in a long time but aren't the boot options listed on the boot menu? If memory serves me right, just press enter to boot from the cd.



nodice1996
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18 May 2010, 4:45 pm

I found it elsewhere, it's working now. I had to press 4. I found that the motherboard was temporarily messed up by a dent in the case touching the circuits, and was able to hammer that out. After that the onboard video worked and I was able to see the the FreeDos Menu. Sorry about not being ultra descriptive, but I had to type most of my posts on my iTouch.


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