i dont have any hercules BIOSs but, one idea i have used recently is unload your BIOS from the card to a file in dos, using debug.exe, and then use that BIOS as virtual BIOS to boot up the 86box virtual machine. You can verify if the BIOS was good or not that way. i would start by checking if 86box supports that particular card first.

randi wrote on 2025-08-04, 17:46:

i dont have any hercules BIOSs but, one idea i have used recently is unload your BIOS from the card to a file in dos, using debug.exe, and then use that BIOS as virtual BIOS to boot up the 86box virtual machine. You can verify if the BIOS was good or not that way. i would start by checking if 86box supports that particular card first.

Unfortunately, the original bios is damaged and nothing can be done with it.

Damaged, as in pins missing? how did you conclude that?

randi wrote on 2025-08-05, 19:10:

Damaged, as in pins missing? how did you conclude that?

I meant the original BIOS file for the card. After downloading it, it only takes up 5 KB, which seems a little too small, and it is mainly filled with zeros. It looks like someone tried to save a different BIOS earlier and something went wrong.

It's 77KB for me.
contains 3 files, 65,45,65KB

Maybe your download is wrong?

You have the blue Hercules?

Nexxen wrote on 2025-08-06, 17:46:

It's 77KB for me. contains 3 files, 65,45,65KB […]
Show full quote

It's 77KB for me.
contains 3 files, 65,45,65KB

Maybe your download is wrong?

You have the blue Hercules?

If it's the same card, can you share your BIOS with me? Photo of my card:

lkawa84 wrote on 2025-08-06, 18:23:

Nexxen wrote on 2025-08-06, 17:46:

It's 77KB for me. contains 3 files, 65,45,65KB […]
Show full quote

It's 77KB for me.
contains 3 files, 65,45,65KB

Maybe your download is wrong?

You have the blue Hercules?

If it's the same card, can you share your BIOS with me? Photo of my card:

How do I extract that?
Tomorrow I'll check if it the same, but looks like it.

fort tests you can use any gts bios. if the card is alive then flash to hercules.

Nexxen wrote on 2025-08-06, 21:45:

lkawa84 wrote on 2025-08-06, 18:23:

Nexxen wrote on 2025-08-06, 17:46:

It's 77KB for me. contains 3 files, 65,45,65KB […]
Show full quote

It's 77KB for me.
contains 3 files, 65,45,65KB

Maybe your download is wrong?

You have the blue Hercules?

If it's the same card, can you share your BIOS with me? Photo of my card:

How do I extract that?
Tomorrow I'll check if it the same, but looks like it.

I used wfflash, which can be downloaded from the link.

ELSA Synergy II -32 PCI: No VGA output - BIOS bit rot?

dm- wrote on 2025-08-07, 03:59:

fort tests you can use any gts bios. if the card is alive then flash to hercules.

If I don't get the Hercules BIOS, I'll try this way.

The full package for the 64MB model is easily found (attached) and is the same version (2.15.01.07.00) as the hercules.bin file from VGA Legacy, though can't find an equivalent package for the 32MB model.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-08-08, 04:25:

The full package for the 64MB model is easily found (attached) and is the same version (2.15.01.07.00) as the hercules.bin file from VGA Legacy, though can't find an equivalent package for the 32MB model.

The attachment b3dp264-107.exe is no longer available

Maybe an input select for 32 or 64 with a soldered zero ohm resistor somewhere?
I had that with a now dead 128 and 256 versions of a card (some ATI).

You open one more address and you double the fun 😀
---

I'll try to image the bios I have this w/e. I need to setup a board just for that.
If this one above fits the bill I won't.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-08-08, 04:25:

The full package for the 64MB model is easily found (attached) and is the same version (2.15.01.07.00) as the hercules.bin file from VGA Legacy, though can't find an equivalent package for the 32MB model.

The attachment b3dp264-107.exe is no longer available

I tried using this BIOS and got the following result:

Here is a photo of what Windows 98 shows.

Well, I'll do something later today to get to your bios image.
Maybe I can save it from W98, that I have as an AGP machine.

Question to the pros: could it be a bad attempt at BIOS modding, bricking the card to an extent?

lkawa84 wrote on 2025-08-07, 16:30:

This is my bios file.
Checksum is 0045tB00.(44KBytes)

0 are zeros not letters

Nexxen wrote on 2025-08-10, 13:44:

This is my bios file. Checksum is 0045tB00.(44KBytes) […]
Show full quote

lkawa84 wrote on 2025-08-07, 16:30:

This is my bios file.
Checksum is 0045tB00.(44KBytes)

0 are zeros not letters

I tried using this BIOS, but unfortunately nothing works. Thank you for your help. Maybe someone else has an idea? Here are some photos from my attempt.

lkawa84 wrote on 2025-08-10, 17:14:

Nexxen wrote on 2025-08-10, 13:44:

This is my bios file. Checksum is 0045tB00.(44KBytes) […]
Show full quote

lkawa84 wrote on 2025-08-07, 16:30:

This is my bios file.
Checksum is 0045tB00.(44KBytes)

0 are zeros not letters

I tried using this BIOS, but unfortunately nothing works. Thank you for your help. Maybe someone else has an idea? Here are some photos from my attempt.

Could be a dead BIOS chip.
If you have a spare you can desolder this one and try a swap.

nvflash detects gpu even without soldered eeprom.

most likely gpu/card is damaged