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Mac to PC Bios Flashing... (Read 184 times)

Renner

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Mac to PC Bios Flashing...
26.12.05 at 17:35:34

I've read some references to re-flashing Mac editions of the V4 4500 and V5 5500 PCI cards to a PC bios, but that seems to be all that I can find -- references.

Has anyone here done this successfully?

If so:

1) Can it be done with a DOS flash utility using a PC, or do you need to have access to a Mac machine to do the flash?

2) Apparently there is at least one bios for the 5500 that allows the DVI output to remain functional for PC use... does this require a modded driver as well? And does the DVI work *correctly*?

3) Are there any other catches/caveats?

I really appreciate any help I get here... it's a LOT easier to find Mac V4's and V5's than original PC editions these days.

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Eye-Q

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Re: Mac to PC Bios Flashing...
Reply #1 - 26.12.05 at 17:56:40

Quote:

1) Can it be done with a DOS flash utility using a PC, or do you need to have access to a Mac machine to do the flash?

You need a PC with the 5500 PCI Mac as second graphics card, I did it 3 times with a normal PC, too.
Quote:

2) Apparently there is at least one bios for the 5500 that allows the DVI output to remain functional for PC use... does this require a modded driver as well? And does the DVI work *correctly*?

The drivers don't have to be modded and the DVI functions correctly but the monitor has to be hooked up at startup of the PC, otherwise the DVI isn't active.
Quote:

3) Are there any other catches/caveats?

Sometimes the DVI doesn't work even with the "PC with DVI-support"-BIOS, then you have to flash it again and the DVI should work.

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Renner Full Member Offline Frequent Failure Posts: 109 Alberta, Canada Gender:	Re: Mac to PC Bios Flashing... Reply #2 - 26.12.05 at 18:03:06 Thanks for the info! I also found another thread with some details, here: http://www.falconfly-central.de/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=techtalk;action=displ... I'm annoyed that it didn't show up when I used Search... just had to browse and find it by chance.
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Renner

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Re: Mac to PC Bios Flashing...
Reply #3 - 22.01.06 at 02:48:02

Well, I just finished re-flashing a V5500 Mac card to the 1.18 PC BIOS. The flash went fine and the card works fine on the analog D-Sub output, but the DVI output still fails to work after several re-flashes.

Hooked up to an HP L2335 via the DVI, set the monitor input to DVI (Digital), started the computer with Init Display Device set to PCI, no joy.

Set the Init Display to AGP, hooked a separate monitor to the AGP card, left the DVI connection as before, re-flashed the V5500, set Init Display back to PCI, still no joy.

Hooked separate monitor to D-Sub output of V5500, left DVI connection as before, re-flashed the V5500, still no joy.

Anyone have any suggestions, or see where I'm going wrong? It's not critical that this work (I can use the D-Sub output OK for what I have in mind as far as monitor setup), but it would still be nice to get it working if possible.

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FalconFly

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Re: Mac to PC Bios Flashing...
Reply #4 - 22.01.06 at 14:22:49

Did the Driver you use properly recognize the DVI option and show the corresponding Tab in 3dfx Tools ?

It's probably required to re-install the Driver after the BIOS flash, plus it (in my opinion) should be a Reference or x3dfx Driver, since I'm not sure if the other 3rd party Drivers have the required entries in their .inf Files.

Reason I doubt it, is because of the ever-limiting size restriction of .inf Files, for which reason many feature-filled Drivers have all optional stuff removed to make space for the Tweaks. (and since no Retail 3dfx PC card I know of ever had DVI, I'm quite sure the required lines for it were removed as well)

This is how it should look (Win2000 x3dfx community Driver) :

There's also a chance that the Video BIOS doesn't have auto-detection at Boot-Up, possibly making LCD support only available as soon as Windows has loaded and the Driver enables it.

« Last Edit: 22.01.06 at 14:25:14 by FalconFly »

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Renner Full Member Offline Frequent Failure Posts: 109 Alberta, Canada Gender:	Re: Mac to PC Bios Flashing... Reply #5 - 22.01.06 at 16:40:46 Oh! See, I never took it into an O/S -- I was just POSTing with the boot device configured for floppy only, so it would halt with "No system disk found, blah blah". I was assuming the DVI connection would be available on boot. I'll have to give it a try in a system with proper drivers. Thanks for the help.
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gamma742 God Member Offline 3Dfx Gamer Posts: 1668 San Diego, CA USA Gender:	Re: Mac to PC Bios Flashing... Reply #6 - 22.01.06 at 19:10:34 You have a good point. I would want my card to be able to boot to the BIOS & Diagnostic screen. Otherwise your booting blind until the OS loads. Let us know how it works out...
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