59 replies to this topic

[davegarbs]

How did you get it to flash? Most of us are getting errors because of the different P/N's

[jojon]

I used cd iso and got error when tried to back up my original bios due to using cd that is write protected.
Other steps went easy and 5 hours later everything works great. Core 2 duo E6600 really blows away my G5 MP 2.5 Ghz.

Good luck.

i am using pioneer 111d
created image using disk utility
when flashing part number was different on the end 009 and now is 008 and working
Hope this helps

[nekton]

Well. I was in Akihabara, Tokyo, yesterday and spotted an ASUS DVI-ADD2 card for 2,780 yen ($25) so I thought I would risk (!) it and try to get an extended desktop on my ASUS mainboard. To cut a long story short it involved a reinstall/upgrade from 10.4.5 to 10.4.7 but now two LG Flatron L1950T units are running with extended desktop off the built-in 900 series controller on the mainboard and the ADD2 board. No speed demon but OK for most of what I do. While I was at it, I decided to take a long look at my ASUS Silent X100XT with the black heat sink and ROM 1005. I figured out that the Enhanced SATA drivers in the ASUS mainboard BIOS were stopping the CDROM driver loading (see earlier post at top of thread) on the Caldera flash CD that Cipher posted--thanks Cipher. The boot then went normally when I changed to Compatible mode and I got to the flash screen with the information about the card which showed it as having a 1 MB ROM with a part number ending in 1005 (the BIOS version maybe?). Then I sacrificed a chicken, drank a beer, crossed my legs, and ran the flash. It went perfectly in about 3 seconds with the new (old) part number ending in 008. So it seems that there is no problem with flashing this ASUS X1600XT and I can't understand why others are having the part number problem—is it to do with the board brand perhaps?
The VGA on this X1600XT card had been working fine with the Boris' manual settings of kexts using Device ID 71C2, but with absolutely no DVI out even with a DVI-VGA adapter. So I redited all the settings again (it was a fresh install) manually and connected two screens one via DVI and one via VGA. On reboot. the VGA came up OK but not the DVI. Then I connected the DVI screen using a DVI-VGA adapter and both screens came up mirrrored. Progress at last. It seems that the 008 ROM has fixed VGA thru the DVI connector for me but not the straight DVI out.
While looking around to see if I could get an extended desktop, I realized that the device ID seems to have changed with the new (old) 008 ROM to 71C0 and although both screens were showing fine with all resolutions up to 1600 x 1280, the card was not supporting CG or QE! So I went back in and redited the Boris files to the 71C0 device ID and a reboot brought me back to the dreaded black screen (both LCDs) with a yellowish/red stripe across where the menus should be and an active mouse cursor. Rediting the kexts manually back to 71C2 got the two mirrored displays back again without CG and QE.
Although this is a little progress, I really need the extended desktop and not mirrored displays, so for now the ASUS X1600XT is back in its box gathering dust. It would be nice to get a copy of Abereicus' ROM that is known to give pure DVI out and see what happens.
Hope this adds a bit to the confusion of why some boards will and won't flash and some will and won't support DVI out.
On a side note, the place where I bought the ADD2 card had a S/H intel Quad Mac Pro (standard configuration) for 279,800 yen—I am really tempted.

[munky]

atiflash refused to flash anything but the original bios to my X1800, tho it would flash a modified (undervolted) version.

flashrom couldnt see my card at all.

.... bum.

[davegarbs]

atiflash refused to flash anything but the original bios to my X1800, tho it would flash a modified (undervolted) version.

flashrom couldnt see my card at all.

.... bum.

Same problem here but I did not try an undervolted version of the bios.

I thought your 1800 was working in OS X atleast.

[munky]

it is, but sleep doesnt work (well, *wake* from sleep doesnt work).

the undervolting is unrelated btw, i had to undervolt to get it to work with my mobo, otherwise it crashed whatever os (windows or osx) after a couple mins of 3d. go figure.

[Conroe Mac]

Davegarbs and I have been experimenting with hexediting the bios to change the P/N number. I tried to flash with a modified bios (that is a 008 bios labeled as 009). Unfortunately, though the SSID and P/N matched, atiflash still refused the flash.

We are waiting for official comment from Sapphire on how to flash from 009 to 008. It has been four business days. Hopefully they come through.

[consolation]

Are you guys using -f with flashrom to force flash? The DID is set in the rom but also there are hardware straps, you'd need to either modify the rom dids (and there are usually a few) or change the hardware by moving a couple of resistors. Try asking one of the strangedogs mods for help, while they are mostly ppc experienced, they are gods at bios mods. Can't wait till my x1600 arrives in a couple of weeks...
Just my 2c worth, sorry if I stated the obvious....

[jbond]

Guys I have a HIS ICEQ x1600XT 256 and it worked without a problem with borisdev. This is a Dual DVI card and both DVI outputs work, but only one at a time.

[cicero]

Hi all,

could it be that our problem with extended desktop is somehow related to this?

http://www.rutemoell...ok/ibook_e.html

It seems our hackintosh are more kind of iMac and Macbooks than MacPros.
Until know I didn't know that Apple locked Extended desktop support for
iMacs and Macbooks. Without hack all iMac users get just mirrored desktop,
same as us, with limited resolution support.

This all is just theory, but ....
Don't blame if I am totally wrong, I just want to get things moving, so are we really
limited by hacked drivers or is this an apple limitation?

Bye folks

[bofors]

could it be that our problem with extended desktop is somehow related to this?

No, the problem has to do with the graphics driver not being properly initialized (because the BIOS bootloader is being used, instead of EFI) and not creating a second "context".

It has nothing to do with Apple disabling extended desktop mode as was done in some older models.

[cicero]

Ok Bofors, so what actually makes the difference between Intel GMA and our ATIs?

I mean, Intel GMA950 has Extended desktop support right from the box, because it is used in
minis? Right?
So using a graphic card from Apple should bring full support? Or these cards wouldnt be even
recognised by our hackintoshes?

I am a bit confused about this extended support issue. Is EFI the only way how to get full support?

Sorry for all those stupid questions, but I'm quite happy with my Core2Duo, just missing the full
graphic support.

[bofors]

Ok Bofors, so what actually makes the difference between Intel GMA and our ATIs?

Namely the graphics driver, and probably fact that the GMA 900 was used to BIOS was used to boot OS X on the Developer Transitions kits.

So using a graphic card from Apple should bring full support? Or these cards wouldnt be even
recognised by our hackintoshes?

I do not if anyone has tried this yet, but I think the problem would be the same (at least for the ATI Mac Pro card), the BIOS boot loader we using will not properly initialize the driver. But it still possible that the Nvidia Mac Pro might work, because that is different driver.

Is EFI the only way how to get full support?

Well, the last time I checked, EFI was not working here, yet people were certainly getting close. But yes, I absolutely think EFI is the way to go. It should solve this and a number of problems at a fundemental level. Without EFI, hackintoshs are never going to be 100% compatible with real Macs.

[iMäcen]

I have a HIS X1600XT 2xDVI and tried flashing. The flash worked fine, but the DVIs dosen't work. I have to use the DVI->RGB converter. Tried both DVI ports, and only VGA works.
HIS BIOS P/N: 123-00SC1H06-00R SSID: 2050
Sapphire BIOS P/N: 11x-5C8801SA-008 SSID: 0880

EDIT: I also tried with Sapphire 11x-5C8801SA-009 but with the same result as the 008.

jbond: Can you please send me your HIS X1600XT BIN-file? I used the one Jemm posted in this thread.

[teppei]

guys.. for working and not working flashing their cards..

what type of memory chips and speed did your card have? i think this is important before flashing your card..

example (taken from techpowerup)

Sapphire X1600Pro 256 PCIE
Infineon 2.5 ns
Core 500 / mem 405

[Jemm]

Ciber,

Thanks for creating the ISO. I have an enhancement that also allows DVI-only booting.

I have discovered a problem with the ATI BIOS I recommended; It does not allow one to boot in DVI when it has been applied to the Asus EAX1600XT Silent card. The OS runs fine and works in DVI, but you can't see the boot if you only have a DVI monitor connected.

I have found an alternative BIOS.

The site vnunet.com has a nice article called Firmware Secrets Revealed that refers to mvktech.net, which has a repository of ATI BIOS files.

The Club 3D BIOS can be flashed into the EAX1600XT Silent to resolve the issue with DVI-only booting. It also allows excellent support under Windoze wit the latest ATI Catalyst drivers (with one or two monitors) and it is possible to switch between VGA and DVI on-the-fly (not perfect, but works) under OS X.

Just remember, you need to use the "force" (or -f) command when flashing if you're changing manufacturers. I've found that atiwinflash works find from under XP, either command line or graphically.

In researching this, I flashed the BIOS of my EAX1600XT at least a dozen times with MSI, Sapphire, Club 3D and Asus BIOSes and had no problems at all. YMMV. AYOR. Etc. I have only tried 256MB PCI-E 1600XT BIOSes.

The effect upon OS X is instant: the wrong BIOS craps out; the right BIOS works perfectly.

Ciao.

[BigJ]

Wahoo!! After 2 days of flashing and re-installations, finally got full features on my HIS X1600XT dual DVI card after reading Ciber's initial post.

Followed the instructions and booted up on the bootable ISO after burning it on a CDROM. Was not able to save the original BIOS as the CD is not writable. Proceeded and installed a thumb drive with the ATIFLASH utility and Sapphire BIOS on USB. Switch to the thumbdrive by typing C: and then save the original BIOS, then flash with shapphire BIOS and restart.

Got full range of resolutions WITHOUT CI/QE on VGA/DVI adapter only. No signal if I connect direct on DVI port as I was on JAS 10.4.8. with Neopheus v3.5 installer. (Same results when graphic card flashed with ASUS X1600XT BIOS or MSI X1600XT BIOS)

Flashed the graphic card again with the Shappire BIOS, moved my 10.4.8 system files to the trash and reinstalled JAs 10.4.7 with the x1600 driver ticked. Rebooted and everything now works, DVI CI Q/E sleep, the second DVI port not working though.

With VGA/DVI adapter installed, sleep does not function.

 Picture_1.png   25.44KB   20 downloads

[Conroe Mac]

I have a HIS X1600XT 2xDVI and tried flashing. The flash worked fine, but the DVIs dosen't work. I have to use the DVI->RGB converter. Tried both DVI ports, and only VGA works.
HIS BIOS P/N: 123-00SC1H06-00R SSID: 2050
Sapphire BIOS P/N: 11x-5C8801SA-008 SSID: 0880

EDIT: I also tried with Sapphire 11x-5C8801SA-009 but with the same result as the 008.

jbond: Can you please send me your HIS X1600XT BIN-file? I used the one Jemm posted in this thread.

You flashed to 009?

[Bootstrap]

I've tried this method (flashing w sapphire bios) after many many tries with other methods (2 months of reinstalling etc). Worked great for me, DVI out working at 1920X1200 resolution also all the rest QE, CI Rotation, all resolutions. Only one problem, when I boot up (on DVI) I get a black screen during the entire booting-up process no vga resolutions at boot up until I get fully to the OSX desktop. I can't see what’s going on even if I try to get into my computer bios for setup options. My Video Card is an ASUS X1600XT Rev.1 Silent. Is there a place where I can set vga resolutions for boot up inside any kext file?

[davegarbs]

Everyone that can't get the boris patch working on their x1600xt should check out Natit for ATI.

It worked for me just when I was about to sell the card hehe...