Guest Gibarian Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Hey guys, I need your help! I just got me an Ati 2600 XT (MXM-2), so I tried to run it in my Acer 5920g, replacing my old Nvidia 8600m GT. It fits perfectly, but: Black screen, nothing happening... Computer's running (HDD active, Windows sound etc), but the display won't work. I wanted to blind flash it, but the bios' I found on the Net just won't fit. So here I am, stuck with a nice GPU that just won't work :) Ideas? If you happen to stumble upon this message and you own an ATI Mobility 2600 XT, please be so kind to post a copy on the Net (TechPowerUp has a nice Video Bios Database including software to get infos and copy the video bios really quickly and easily... Unfortunately this card is missing :) ) . That might help me, and I would really appreciate it. I would also be grateful for any additional information or hint concerning this matter. Any of you ever tried to replace the 5920g's GPU? With an Ati card? Did it work? Am I just the unluckiest guy on Earth, who bought a dead GPU, or is there more to it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bodycount Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Hi Gibarian, I don't have an Acer but an Amilo laptop. I still know your problems as well! I also tried a few MXM modules with exaclty the same result(s)! Some modules worked just fine and others not! Maybe Kris from MXM-upgrade would be so kind to flash your card or to send you a clear link how to do this! Unfortunately my 8600 gt does not work already because of a problem with the MXM connector on the mainboard! So I have to wait until my x1800/x1900 will have been arriving! Have a nice day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gibarian Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Hey Bodycount, thanks for answering. Apparently I'm not the only one standing in the rain then :) I share your disappointment, even more because I intended to put my 8600m GT in my old Amilo 3438g (the 6800m GT that was in there died, I guess you know what I mean: quite common). So that won't work either... :) I'm sad... Anyway, if you have to replace your GPU because the old one died, you might want to try and bake the old one (in the oven!) I read about some guys who did it, and it worked! At least for a while... A 20-30 min cooking at about 110 °C (or more, but risky!) makes the microfractures disappear, giving your GPU a second life... Search the web about it, it's quite interesting... I think I'll try it, nothing to lose. Then again, if you're just doing an upgrade, forget what I just said... I'll keep on looking for a fitting Bios for my 2600 XT. Good luck with your upgrade/replacement! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 If the card came from a HP or gateway nb, there's no way to get working in Acer. I speak from experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bodycount Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 Hi Gibarian, hi guest, Concerning this topic it doesn't matter where the card comes from - the vbios can be removed! The problem I figured out is that the MXM connector does not fit the pin configuration of the mxm modules(=> internal Power supply does not work)!!!! I also tried to "re-animate" a 6800 go by cooking but it does not work either! It's a strang story! Check out the "Summarize A1667g MXM upgrade thread" for further detailed information about it! I tried a lot of possible solutions to get them working but without any positive results! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hi Gibarian, hi guest,Concerning this topic it doesn't matter where the card comes from - the vbios can be removed! The problem I figured out is that the MXM connector does not fit the pin configuration of the mxm modules(=> internal Power supply does not work)!!!! I also tried to "re-animate" a 6800 go by cooking but it does not work either! It's a strang story! Check out the "Summarize A1667g MXM upgrade thread" for further detailed information about it! I tried a lot of possible solutions to get them working but without any positive results! Can be or should be if there's a non-crypted vbios on the card. HP 2600 has an eeprom which ID is 20,FF. Anyways, it should be read/write with external eeprom programmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gibarian Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hi guys, Well that's some pretty bad news you got for me there... :) So: It's either the MXM pin configuration that doesn't match (and I'm not gonna start soldering, thanks, but no thanks!), or if it's an HP or a Gateway (which, of course, it happens to be, I checked with a Bios Editor: Gateway!), it won't work anyway! (Sigh!... SIGH!) :) Grrr... So much for MXM being a universal standard!!! All right, I'll put my HD2600XT on my shelf with my other "computer artifacts that have a mind of their own and just won't work" and keep on going with my old card then. Thanks for your help folks. Keep me posted if you have better news (hope never dies). ps: @bodycount: The Clevo definitely looks nice! Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bodycount Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Of course - Clevo built nice barbones!!! Hopefully my other cards from Kris will have been arriving soon! I can't wait any longer! I need my/a more powerful portable computer!! Hope to get some other experiences and hear from you guys soon concerning "other" possible error sources which I didn't keep in mind - as Gibarin told us before: hope never dies!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hi guys,Well that's some pretty bad news you got for me there... :) So: It's either the MXM pin configuration that doesn't match (and I'm not gonna start soldering, thanks, but no thanks!), or if it's an HP or a Gateway (which, of course, it happens to be, I checked with a Bios Editor: Gateway!), it won't work anyway! (Sigh!... SIGH!) :) Grrr... So much for MXM being a universal standard!!! All right, I'll put my HD2600XT on my shelf with my other "computer artifacts that have a mind of their own and just won't work" and keep on going with my old card then. Thanks for your help folks. Keep me posted if you have better news (hope never dies). ps: @bodycount: The Clevo definitely looks nice! Good luck with it! So the eeprom is readable, isn't it? In that case, you can modify the vendor id, Acers vendor id is 1025. Then write back the vbios. If you can read/write the vbios, you are lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gibarian Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 So the eeprom is readable, isn't it? In that case, you can modify the vendor id, Acers vendor id is 1025. Then write back the vbios. If you can read/write the vbios, you are lucky. Hi guest! I already tried that, but still no go! Black screen... My card is cursed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meins321 Posted September 11, 2008 Report Share Posted September 11, 2008 omg i'am sorry for you guys but i also stumbled upon a HD2600XT and i don't know where it's from. Does this mean they are not compatible with anything else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gibarian Posted September 11, 2008 Report Share Posted September 11, 2008 omg i'am sorry for you guys but i also stumbled upon a HD2600XT and i don't know where it's from.Does this mean they are not compatible with anything else? Hi Meins321, Well... Ever played the lottery? :) Are you sure you're talking about the MOBILITY HD 2600XT? The laptop MXM card? If it's the desktop version you're talking about, don't worry: that one should work on any desktop... Finding out where your card is from is possible with software such as GPU-Z. This software allows you to know everything about your graphics card, including it's origin. You can also copy your Vbios with it, and then automatically post it on the Web (please be so kind and do so, for my sake, if it's a Mobility HD2600XT you're talking about. Thanks alot!). This of course implies that your card is working and built into your computer... Now, if you bought the card but haven't managed to make it work yet, things get a little hairy, since you have no display to read information from if you install the card. Your only way to know the card's origin in that case (as far as I know) is to make a blind copy of the Vbios, that you can later open on another computer or with a working GPU to read it's contents. A really entertaining procedure awaits you... :) In order to do that, you'll need a bios flash software like ATIFlash, a bios editor like RBE (Radeon Bios Editor), a Memory Stick and a lot of patience. First, you'll have to prepare your alternate boot device for the bios copy procedure. Create a bootable stick (with HP USB Disk format storage tool, works best) and add ATIFlash on it. Create an autoexec.bat in it and put the command line "atiflash.exe -s 0 oldbios.bin" (without brackets) in it. Second, you'll have to tell your computer bios to boot on that new device. So, you have to restart your computer and enter the Bios at boot. Find the boot priority tab and set your boot device (USB Stick, floppy or CD) to boot BEFORE the Hard Drive. Save and quit. Turn off your computer. Third: Replace your working card by your HD 2600 XT. Since I'm talking about a laptop card (the Mobility HD 2600 xt), you have to remove the battery and unplug the power supply from the plug but NOT from the laptop!!! This is very important! If you don't do it that way, the laptop might keep some electric charge inside it, and you'll end up with a toasted graphics card if you start pulling it out. Discharge yourself by touching some pipes (water pipes or heating element at home) and open the lappy. Replace the card (go to MXM-Upgrade.com to see how it's done), put everything back together and... Reboot! (with your USB boot stick attached). Now, if everything works as planned, you'll see... nothing! Well, the computer shouldn't show any Hard Disk activity, since you're booting on something else. Your stick or drive should instead show some activity, if it's fitted with a led or display of some kind... Give it 5 minutes (better safe than sorry, but 1-2 minutes are usually enough), then turn off your computer. Now, either put your working GPU back in the computer or use another computer to check the contents of your stick. If you use the same computer, remember to unplug the stick before restarting it, otherwise it will again boot on the stick and copy your Vbios once more... Your stick should contain a file called oldbios.bin now. That's the copy of the Vbios of your non-working card. Open that file with RBE Editor and read the info: Done! ps: If you plan on doing a blind copy of the bios, I suggest you read some more infos about it (if you're not used to the procedure) before you get started. Miggling with the bios' always implies some risks. Be careful! Keep me posted! See ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meins321 Posted September 14, 2008 Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 (edited) Hey I've bought that card from Ebay and i don't think that it will work with my alienware m5550 but i asked icetea for advice and i need some screws and heatpad as it won't fit in my Laptop anyway. May be we will be able to get it working.... i think we need someone with an HP Laptop where these card's are from. Video Bios'es what i've found so far: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.p...=&memSize=0 Edited September 17, 2008 by Meins321 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gibarian Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Hey I've bought that card from Ebay and i don't think that it will work with my alienware m5550 but i asked icetea for advice and i need some screws and heatpad as it won't fit in my Laptop anyway.May be we will be able to get it working.... i think we need someone with an HP Laptop where these card's are from. Video Bios'es what i've found so far: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.p...=&memSize=0 Hi Meins321, Yup, found the same ones... Useless! We need the XT version. I don't want to downgrade my new card with a weaker card bios! Furthermore, I have the 256Mb version of the HD2600XT... I actually got in touch with somebody who bought the same card I have, from the same vendor, and managed to use it in his Acer 7720g. Weird thing is that it won't work in my 5920g. Both lappys are Santa Rosa platforms... Same chipset... Then again, his laptop contained an Ati HD2600 (non-XT) before he replaced it with the HD2600XT. Maybe the laptop's specific Bios has to be Ati set... I don't know, I'm out of ideas... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alex Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Hi Meins321,Yup, found the same ones... Useless! We need the XT version. I don't want to downgrade my new card with a weaker card bios! Furthermore, I have the 256Mb version of the HD2600XT... I actually got in touch with somebody who bought the same card I have, from the same vendor, and managed to use it in his Acer 7720g. Weird thing is that it won't work in my 5920g. Both lappys are Santa Rosa platforms... Same chipset... Then again, his laptop contained an Ati HD2600 (non-XT) before he replaced it with the HD2600XT. Maybe the laptop's specific Bios has to be Ati set... I don't know, I'm out of ideas... :) Maybe 7720Gs sbios contains hd2600xt vbios and the cards vbios is not necessary anymore. With Phoenix Bios Editor you can add vbios to sbios file but if I were you I wouldn't dare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gibarian Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Maybe 7720Gs sbios contains hd2600xt vbios and the cards vbios is not necessary anymore. With Phoenix Bios Editor you can add vbios to sbios file but if I were you I wouldn't dare. Hi Alex! Thanks for popping in! Interesting lead... I'll look into it! But you're right, it's risky! I'll think about it... and keep you posted if I try See ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibarian Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Hi Alex!Thanks for popping in! Interesting lead... I'll look into it! But you're right, it's risky! I'll think about it... and keep you posted if I try See ya! Ok, I'm registred now! Funny thing, replying on one's own comment :) @Alex I read some more about Phoenix Bios Editor. First of all, it's very hard to find, and second... Man, this is serious stuff! Interesting, but too dangerous for me. I think I'll try to figure out another way. Don't want to brick my lappy. But thanks for the tip anyway! This might be a way out of this mess, but it's just too risky. For highly advanced users only... or suicidal guys :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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