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VGA Bios flashing

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  #1  
Old 07-30-2003
Newcomer, in training
 
Location: Manchester, England
Member since: Jul 2003, 3 posts
VGA Bios flashing

Hello,
I have done a few mobo bios flashes without problems, however i have never flashed a graphics card bios, i'm sorry i did now.
The card is an MSI GeForce4 MX440SE-T Tv-Out.
Here's the story.A few weeks ago we had some very hot weather, the hottest day of the year apparrently!
On the day in question the output from the card started to fail, breaking up, flashing etc.
I removed the side of the case and pointed a desktop fan in there and it didn't do it again that day.
Since that incident the output on the screen has been flickering and shimering everyday, graduly getting worse.
I decided to try another driver, hoping for a miracle cure...lol this didn't change anything.
I then decided to flash the bios on the card using the Live Update2 utility on the MSI site, it scanned my system and suggested one update for my bios so i went ahead and flashed. I then re-booted to my brand new blue error screen.
I think i can safely say that this card is now DEAD.
I am posting on here to see if anyone else has experienced this, and can suggest what i can do for the best.
Is it worth e-mailing MSI ?
I'd appreciate any help at all i could get on this.

BTW i have not overclocked the card.

Thanks.
  #2  
Old 07-30-2003
Nodsu's Avatar
TechSpot Evangelist
 
Location: Estonia
Member since: Feb 2002, 9,430 posts
System specs
Are you saying you get a windows bluescreen? if that is the case, then the card definently isn't quite dead yet..

Are you absolutely sure you flashed BIOS with the exact version for your card, down to every last version difference?

You may try to run it in standard VGA mode and reinstall drivers.

And if you were a cautious computer user, then you surely made a backup image of the original BIOS that can easily flashed back?
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  #3  
Old 07-30-2003
Newcomer, in training
 
Location: Manchester, England
Member since: Jul 2003, 3 posts
Thanks for the reply.
The MSI live update 2 is a utility that searches your system and tells you which bios or driver you are using, and which one you can update to.
During the process it gave me only 1 bios option to choose from, i couldn't go wrong
Having read up further on this utility, it seems people have had problems with it.
I should have read them before i know.
It did not give me the option to save the old bios.
And finally, it is definatly a windows blue error screen, if it's any use i can put the card back in and note down the error, if thats any use.

Thanks again for the reply.
  #4  
Old 07-30-2003
vassil3427's Avatar
TechSpot Booster
 
Member since: Feb 2002, 822 posts
But does your pc still P.O.S.T. I mean do you still see your drives being listed and stuff when you first turn it on? And then when entering windows you get the error? or do you get the error immediatly when you start the pc?
  #5  
Old 07-30-2003
Newcomer, in training
 
Location: Manchester, England
Member since: Jul 2003, 3 posts
well, could it be my lucky day
I just installed the card so i could get the error code, and it is now working

Could it be that the card was too hot when i flashed the bios, and now that it has been out of the system for 2 days , it feels rested enough to want to work again ?

i cannot figure this out, but it is fortunate anyway.
I am posting this and it has only been running for 5 minutes, we'll see if it lasts the night !

Thanks.

Btw, since removing the card from the system, i have been running on the mobo's onboard graphics.
Now that have returned this card to the agp slot, could that have prompted it to work again, due to some resetting procedure??

Last edited by billgatesconman; 07-30-2003 at 02:49 PM..
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