Help with MAC flash of PCI Radeon 9200 PRO
  • Order of the Butterfly
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    JohnFante
    Posts: 158 from 2006/9/4
    From: Copenhagen
    I have an old Radeon 9200 PRO (device ID 5960) that I used to use in my Mediator setup.

    I am trying to flash it with a Mac ROM so that I can use it in my G5 (i will do the resistor mod afterwards). I have tried several of the ROMs on the Mac Elite site but so far I only get errors saying that it is the wrong ROM.

    I use the "atiflash -p 0 name.rom -f" command and I can backup and rewrite the present rom without any problems so the issue is primarily getting the right MAC rom.

    Anybody have any experience with flashing of old Radeon cards/good places to get ROMs that work?

    Here is a picture of the information for the card.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/8d1o4p8j41el9nf/IMG_0618.JPG?dl=0

    [ Edited by JohnFante 05.07.2015 - 08:37 ]
  • »05.07.15 - 05:35
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    What is the brand of the card you are using?
    Are you using a reduced 64K from file?
    Where did you find the from file you are trying to use?

    [ Edited by Jim 05.07.2015 - 11:25 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »05.07.15 - 14:13
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  • Order of the Butterfly
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    JohnFante
    Posts: 158 from 2006/9/4
    From: Copenhagen
    It is - as far as I can tell - the Sapphire version. On the card is says that it is a Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB V/D/VO version. But the when I search for the device ID it says it is a 9200 Pro.

    See the label here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3yig99qpqdkt3kj/IMG_0619.jpg?dl=0

    I have tried several of the original and modified PPC roms for 9200 and 9250 from here:

    http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2

    They are as far as I can see 128K versions.

    Do I have to use the reduced 64K version?
  • »06.07.15 - 04:25
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    There are 64k from files on the Mac Elite website you mentioned.
    Also, make sure that if you have two video cards in the PC you flash the Sapphire with that you specify the correct card in the AtiFlash command line.
    It is not a bad idea to have a second card (in your case an AGP or PCIe card depending on your system) just in case the card, once flashed, doesn't work.
    Then you will be able to use the second card for display when you re-flash your 9250.

    The first PC card I flashed for G4 use was a 9250, the resistor mod is easier than presented on the website in that you don't really need to move the one resistor. It will work if you just remove the one that is in the incorrect position.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »06.07.15 - 11:51
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  • Order of the Butterfly
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    JohnFante
    Posts: 158 from 2006/9/4
    From: Copenhagen
    Thank you for upur help :-) Using a 64K ROM did the trick.

    Now for the resistor-mod. My resistors are like this at the moment:

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4nr8ag7e0b98x4/IMG_0620.jpg?dl=0

    As far as I can see on the Mac Elite page I need to move the bottom one in the left column and the middle one in the right column.

    Are you saying that I can just remove the two resistors?
  • »06.07.15 - 13:53
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    No, in your case you are safer moving the resistors.
    I'll try to get to a PC to examine your photo (the tablet I'm using right now does not want to download the image correctly - you gotta love Android), but Sapphire often uses the basic design provided by AMD so the resistors are likely to be in the place that the website shows.
    On my card, only the last resistor had to be moved, and that seems to work fine if you just remove it.

    Moving small SMT resistors is delicate work.
    Personally, I hate soldering, but if you approach it calmly with a steady hand you should be all right.

    Let us all know how well this works.
    Even though I already have a Radon 9800XT, I have have been thinking of modding an AGP 9250 I have sitting around for Warp3D support.

    And there is some satisfaction in hacking a solution that works.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »06.07.15 - 14:23
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  • Order of the Butterfly
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    JohnFante
    Posts: 158 from 2006/9/4
    From: Copenhagen
    Well I moved the resistors but I have a new problem.

    The card works. I can boot into openfirmware (I do not have MacOS installed) and write commands etc. but the picture does not come up when I to boot into MorphOS.

    This is what happens when I boot: After a couple of seconds the screen turns on and turns grey. Then it turns black and it begins to boot MorphOS but nothing happens. No loading screen nothing. The screen is turned on but that is that.

    The same if I try to boot from CD. It starts to boot from the CD but then again nothing.

    I have tried another ROM for the card - same problem. I will double check the resistormod but since I can boot into openfirmware I do not think that is the problem.

    Anybody else have the same problem?
  • »07.07.15 - 05:28
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Sorry for the delay in responding.
    This could be a relatively new issue, one of the first cards I used under MorphOS was a flashed 9250.
    This might work better if you were using an AGP video card, PCI video cards have not been shown to operate correctly in G5s. For example, the Voodoo3 PCI initializes but does not operate stable.
    Also one one other issue you have is that flashed cards are not officially supported by MorphOS, therefore what you are trying is outside normal support (not impossible, but you are not going to get much help).

    Originally I thought I could offer to help by flashing a card I had on hand and trying it, but the PC I used to flash cards on is disassembled.

    [ Edited by Jim 14.07.2015 - 09:34 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »14.07.15 - 12:33
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  • Order of the Butterfly
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    Raf_MegaByte
    Posts: 430 from 2004/10/10
    From: Nella grande r...
    In a past thread I found link to a site that is the "bible" of flashing roms for graphic cards. Should find it again. If I will find site again, I will post link here.
    Bill Gates "Think!", Steve Jobs: "Think different!" So... Let these guy continue blabbering thinking and enjoy computing! We are on Amiga!
  • »23.07.15 - 05:42
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    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12402 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > In a past thread I found link to a site that is the "bible" of flashing roms for
    > graphic cards. Should find it again. If I will find site again, I will post link here.

    Isn't it the one in posting #3?
  • »23.07.15 - 11:17
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  • Order of the Butterfly
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    JohnFante
    Posts: 158 from 2006/9/4
    From: Copenhagen
    Just a quick update: I have dobbeltchecket the soldering and the flash. Still no change. Works on the Mac side but not on the MorphOS side. Therefore my best guess is the same as Jim: PCI problems with G5 macs on MorphOS.

    I will test again when 4.0 (or what the next release is called) comes out. If anybody would like to test the card in their PPC Macs I would be happy to lend it out in the meanwhile.
  • »31.07.15 - 05:17
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    amigadave
    Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
    From: Northern Calif...
    Quote:

    JohnFante wrote:
    Just a quick update: I have dobbeltchecket the soldering and the flash. Still no change. Works on the Mac side but not on the MorphOS side. Therefore my best guess is the same as Jim: PCI problems with G5 macs on MorphOS.

    I will test again when 4.0 (or what the next release is called) comes out. If anybody would like to test the card in their PPC Macs I would be happy to lend it out in the meanwhile.


    Or perhaps it is the other problem that Jim mentioned, which is the fact that you are using a re-flashed video card, not an Apple branded, or 3rd party Mac specific video card with the correct Mac ROM. I am experiencing intermittent problems where MorphOS freezes with my G5 PowerMac using a re-flashed FireGL X3, Radeon R420 video card. I am going to install a video card that was designed for Mac computers to see if my problems go away, as soon as I can find the Radeon 9650 video card that originally came with my Dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac. (The 9650 is reported by some people to be slower than the Radeon 9000Pro, and other models that were produced before the 9650)

    Hey Jim,

    Get that PC that you use for re-flashing video cards put back together. I may need to buy another video card from you in the near future if I can't find one to buy on eBay, or Craigslist.  ;-)
    MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.
  • »03.08.15 - 13:24
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Hey David,
    Almost missed this part of the thread, I just got released from the hospital last night after a slightly more than 10 day stay.
    I sold the one PC I used for flashing, but I have enough parts to replace it.
    Again though, we both know the limitations of flashed cards as you were one of the first Mac/MorphOS users to secure a functioning FireGL X3 (while David and I do zero development, we have supported others when possible).
    I regard to that card, I would almost always recommend an Apple X800XT over it.

    And right now the 9200 PCI presents issues when used in a G5.
    The AGP model, even a flashed card, should be no problem though.

    [ Edited by Jim 09.08.2015 - 17:55 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »07.08.15 - 21:00
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