ATOM-15 trouble modifying BIOS for HD 7850.

[chrisvg]

Apologies for posting multiple threads reporting issues/requesting help, I don't want to come across as annoying!

I'm not sure if ATOM-15 is still actively in development, however I just wanted to report a problem when trying to modify the BIOS for my HD 7850 card.  I imagine this is not so much a bug with ATOM-15, but a compatibility issue.  Not sure if it's something that can be resolved or not, just figured I'd post this in case Calamity want's to have a look.

The ATOM-15 v.1.1 window displays the following information about my dumped BIOS file:

File size: 131072 bytes
Vendor ID: 1002h
Device ID: 6819h
Checksum: 2400h
Int 10h proc: 039Ah
Standard service: 5A7Fh
VESA service: 52F8h

When I select any combination of monitor range options I get the following error: "Hook not possible. Not enough blank space below 0xFFFF."

I've attached a copy of my dumped BIOS file, along with the log files generated by ATOM-15.

[Calamity]

I've modified ATOM-15 to detect blank space as a combination of 00 and FF characters. This version will patch your bios, but I can't guarantee it won't brick your card. Be warned.

[chrisvg]

That did the trick!

I successfully created a modified BIOS file and then used a USB DOS boot disk to test the modified BIOS with the lbios and z tools.. no problems there, so went to use atiflash to flash the BIOS and it hung ... I then left it alone for 10 minutes .. still no progress.. oh no!

I then decided to reboot and fortunately it looks like the DOS atiflash tool did nothing for some reason or another.

So, I boot back into Windows and use the Windows version of the ATIFlash utility and it successfully flashed the modified BIOS .. reboot..

Success! 


So, thanks for all of your efforts mate! Check your PayPal account coz the beers are on me this weekend

[Calamity]

Thanks chrisvg, I appreciate that you took the risk, now we know that ATOM-15 works on the 7800 series too, I'll bump the version with this new patch. Maybe the DOS Atiflash can't handle the newer chipsets properly.

I believe I had read there was an issue with bios signature requirements starting from the 7000 series, it looks like it worked after all.

Cheers.

[Andypc]

I have a similar issue. I have just bought 3 Sapphire HD 7750 Low Profile cards for my arcade machines. I successfully flashed a Sapphire HD6670 so though these would be fine. I first got the error: "Hook not possible. Not enough blank space below 0xFFFF."

The ATOM-15 window displays the following information about my dumped BIOS file:

File size: 131072 bytes
Vendor ID: 1002h
Device ID: 683Fh
Checksum: EF00h
Int 10h proc: 03A6h
Standard service: 5B0Dh
VESA service: 5386h

So I tried the modified ATOM-15 from this thread and it appeared to patch the bios rom ok. The issue is that when I use ATIWinFlash to program the bios-mod.rom back to the card, I get the error message "Vbios image not found"

Any help would be appreciated as I have three of these cards I need to mod.

[Dalba]

So I tried the modified ATOM-15 from this thread and it appeared to patch the bios rom ok. The issue is that when I use ATIWinFlash to program the bios-mod.rom back to the card, I get the error message "Vbios image not found"

Any help would be appreciated as I have three of these cards I need to mod.

I have a VTX 7850 and i encounter the exact same issue as you. I can save my bios with atiflash, patch bios with modified atom15 of this topic, but i get the error message "Vbios image not found" when trying to flash...
I use what seems to be the latest version, atiflash 274... I wonder what version was used by chrisvg...

[Dalba]

I hope Calamity will read this as i don't want to create another topic for this. I encounter the exact same issue as original poster above with an Asus 7750, even with the modified version of atom 15 you posted above.



Whatever settings i try, i get this :



I join my bios dump and txt files if it can help...

[R-Typer]

I used previous unpatched version of ATOM and it patched my MSI 7770 and ASUS 7850 without any issues. I guess I was just lucky to not have issues with these two cards I have.

[Calamity]

ATOM-15 v1.2

- v1.2 - September 2016
    - Detect blank space as a combination of 0x00 and 0xFF characters.
    - Reduce by 256 bytes the size required by the BIOS hook, now only 572 bytes of blank
      space are needed to patch the BIOS.
    - Fixed bug that caused wrong checksum correction in some cases.


This version should fix the "Vbios image not found" issue with ATIWinFlash. It includes the feature for better detecting blank space that was present in the test build I had attached some posts above. It also needs less blank space now, so it should patch some cards where previously it couldn't find enough space.

(It won't patch Dalba's last posted BIOS, however. That one could be patched by editing it first with an hex editor, if he wants to take the risk).

[Dalba]

(It won't patch Dalba's last posted BIOS, however. That one could be patched by editing it first with an hex editor, if he wants to take the risk).

I'm OK to take the risk as i only spent a few bucks on this card, but i must admit i don't now where to start and what to do...

[Calamity]

I'm OK to take the risk as i only spent a few bucks on this card, but i must admit i don't now where to start and what to do...

Try this one, make sure you know beforehand how to fix it in case it ends up bricked.

[Dalba]

Try this one, make sure you know beforehand how to fix it in case it ends up bricked.

Really thanks ! I will try ASAP and make a report.

[Andypc]

  Huge Thanks Calamity 1.2 did the trick perfectly. 

[Dalba]

Try this one, make sure you know beforehand how to fix it in case it ends up bricked.

Hello, i tried to patch your modded 7750 bios with latest atom15 but i can't as i get an error.
But i was wondering : did you create this bios in order to be able to patch it with atom15 ? Or is it an already patched bios ?

[Calamity]

What error are you getting?

Anyway, that's an already patched BIOS, I used a modified version of Atom-15 to manually patch it.

[Dalba]

Here's a screen of the error :



What i would like is being able to patch card to use either only 15khz, either only 31khz, depending the cab i will use card for...

[Calamity]

Here's a screen of the error :

I had already patched that bios, it can't be patched twice.

What i would like is being able to patch card to use either only 15khz, either only 31khz, depending the cab i will use card for...

You need a modified version of ATOM-15 to do that. It'd be nice to know if a bios patched like that works at all (the one I posted), before I consider releasing a new version of ATOM with support for manual patching (dangerous).

[Dalba]

Here's a screen of the error :

I had already patched that bios, it can't be patched twice.

What i would like is being able to patch card to use either only 15khz, either only 31khz, depending the cab i will use card for...

You need a modified version of ATOM-15 to do that. It'd be nice to know if a bios patched like that works at all (the one I posted), before I consider releasing a new version of ATOM with support for manual patching (dangerous).

Hello,
I finally had time to test seriously my hd7750 with your modified bios in my blast city. I can tell you it works wonderfully !
I would have a request... Could you please send me a new modified bios for my hd7750 that would support only 15khz during boot ? I then could test it in a 15khz Astro city !

[Dalba]

Hello,
I finally had time to test seriously my hd7750 with your modified bios in my blast city. I can tell you it works wonderfully !
I would have a request... Could you please send me a new modified bios for my hd7750 that would support only 15khz during boot ? I then could test it in a 15khz Astro city !

Little Up in case Calamity stop by this topic