First post, by BitsUndBolts
- Rank
- Newbie
Hi everyone,
This is my first post and I want to share a few details regarding this ELSA Synergy II -32 PCI.
Specs:
Bus: PCI
Chipset: nVidia Riva TNT2
Memory: 32MB SGRAM
Core Clock: 125 MHz
Memory Clock: 150 MHz
Memory Bus Width: 128 bit
Symptoms:
When the card was plugged in a PCI slot on an ASUS P3B-F, the system would boot without issues (no concerning beep codes), but there was no VGA output. The chip on the card got warm while booting.
Evaluation:
Since this card was meant for the professional segment, I suspected maybe a modified BIOS that locks this card to specific hardware (e.g. DELL, HP, etc.). Therefore, I tried to flash the BIOS of this card.
Resolution:
I added a second graphics card to the board to be able to boot and get a VGA output.
Then I tried several flashing utilities:
Elsa's own FlashRom (contains all BIOS images): Elsa FlashRom utility
Complained that the BIOS on the card is faulty. Could not read or write BIOS.
nVidia nvFlash:
Wouldn't work in DOS. I did not spend a lot of time with this tool.
Leadtek wfflash: Leadtek wfflash utility
Worked like a charm. Could read and write the BIOS. This tool rescued the card!
From what I can tell, the BIOS on the card differs in 4 bits only from the working BIOS image.
Seems like the BIOS chip flipped those bits over time (age or external influence) => Bit Rot?
The card is working now again:
I spent quite some time to track down BIOS images and flashing tools. I am sharing them here for others to use!
I will also attach the broken BIOS image file (password: brokenBios) in case you want to compare it with the working BIOS image.
BROKEN BIOS (use at your own risk! Password: brokenBios): Broken BIOS
If you want a longer version of the story, I have a YouTube Channel that has the entire process documented in one video:
ELSA Synergy II-32: This is how I fixed this graphics card!
Edit: Update URLs to have text