# Flashed ATI PC Cards?



## Padawanmage (Jul 26, 2002)

Has anyone had any luck flashing an ATI Card made for a PC and then using it on a Mac?


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## wlescall (Jul 26, 2002)

Yes, I successfully flashed a radeon 8500 from newegg. Had to use the firmware restore before flashing the update, but it works great.


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## THEMACER (Jul 27, 2002)

Can wlescall please email me at eba2k2@earthlink.net and explain to me the best way you can how you did it.


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## Captain Code (Jul 27, 2002)

Please post here how you did it so the rest of us can benefit too


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## THEMACER (Jul 27, 2002)

Just thought you might have not wanted to say it. Hope you can post it before tonight.


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## Jason (Jul 28, 2002)

i would like to know about this as well, as im looking to upgrade my video card further for jaguar 

Which radeon 8500 did you get?


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## wlescall (Jul 29, 2002)

Here are the steps I used (gleaned from MacNN & xlr8yourmac forums):

 1. Bought PC 8500 Radeon card from Newegg.com rated at 275/275 for $109.
 2. Booted into OS9.2
 3. Installed Firmware RESTORE (from ATI firmware downloaded)into startup folder.
 4. Shut down. Removed original ATI card, installed Radeon 8500.
 5. Restarted leaving CRT unconnected, waited 5 min, shut down.
 6. Replaced Radeon with original card. Restarted, replaced the FIRMWARE RESTORE with Firmware UPDATE. Shut down.
 7. Reinstalled the Radeon 8500. Restarted. Waited 5 min. Shut down.
 8. Reconnected the CRT. Restarted and reset the PRAM (Waited for 5-6 chimes ... lost count{sheepish grin})
 9. Installed the drivers in OS9. Booted into OSX Installed he drivers and everything is working great.


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## Captain Code (Jul 29, 2002)

Thanks wlescall!


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## THEMACER (Jul 29, 2002)

Could you please give a link to the exact files you used so i can do it as best as i can. I am not too good at doing stuff like this.


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## wlescall (Jul 29, 2002)

This is where I got the updater from.

http://ati.com/support/drivers/mac/ati-radeon8500-mac-rom-126.html

good luck.


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## THEMACER (Jul 29, 2002)

Ok wlescall number 3 said 
"Installed Firmware RESTORE (from ATI firmware downloaded)into startup folder"

Under what os do you do this, and what do you mean install into start up folder? Was the firmware restpre what i just downloaded for the link you gave?

Number 6 said 
"Replaced Radeon with original card. Restarted, replaced the FIRMWARE RESTORE with Firmware UPDATE. Shut down."

Do i have to dl Firmware restore and firmware update?

Ok last one number 9 said 
"Installed the drivers in OS9. Booted into OSX Installed he drivers and everything is working great. "

When you installed the os 9 and 10 drivers did you dl them from the ati web site or something or did you get it with the cd that came with the video card.

Sorry if these are stupid its just that i would do nothing to hurt my g4.


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## wlescall (Jul 29, 2002)

> Under what os do you do this, and what do you mean install into start up folder?



OS 9.2.2 Startup items folder. OS9 automatically launches anything in this folder.




> Was the firmware restpre what i just downloaded for the link you gave?



Yes.



> Do i have to dl Firmware restore and firmware update?



Yes, it was all part of the same package dl'd from the above link.



> When you installed the os 9 and 10 drivers did you dl them from the ati web site or something or did you get it with the cd that came with the video card.



I dl'd the newest drivers from the ATI's web site.

I hope this answers your questions.


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## THEMACER (Jul 29, 2002)

Thanks for the fast responce i hope it works for me thanks a bunch love this site.


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## THEMACER (Jul 30, 2002)

Hey wlescall under what version of os x where u runing? I hope the 8500 dont have the same prob the geforce2 mx has not being able to pass 10.1.3


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## wlescall (Jul 30, 2002)

I'm using 10.1.4 without any difficulties. I'm now waiting for Jaguar.

I just found on xlryourmac's forums the following URL link to all the 8500 firmware files. Read xlryourmac or MacNN's forums on the 8500 flashing.

http://dfalling.dyndns.org:8081/misc.html


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## THEMACER (Jul 30, 2002)

wlescall is yours the OEM or LE version. Do i have to get 1 of those 2? What do they mean


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## Jason (Jul 30, 2002)

ok say if this doesnt work, will i be able to reflash the card and stick it in my pc at the very least?


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## wlescall (Jul 30, 2002)

> wlescall is yours the OEM or LE version. Do i have to get 1 of those 2? What do they mean


I bought the OEM 275MHz/275MHz from newegg.com for $109 w/free shipping.


> ok say if this doesnt work, will i be able to reflash the card and stick it in my pc at the very least?


I'm not very well acquainted with the dark side. I've been a Mac User since about 1986.


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## Jason (Aug 2, 2002)

well i am gonna try it pretty soon, just need the money

dunno why im doing this, i have a radeon 7500 currently... wonder if the 8500 works for mac if i can do the 7500 to work on the pc... hmmmm


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## legacyb4 (Sep 5, 2002)

wlescall,

Any luck with Jaguar? I'm sure a lot of people would be interested to know whether the hardware works or not...

Cheers.



> _Originally posted by wlescall _
> *I'm using 10.1.4 without any difficulties. I'm now waiting for Jaguar.
> 
> I just found on xlryourmac's forums the following URL link to all the 8500 firmware files. Read xlryourmac or MacNN's forums on the 8500 flashing.
> ...


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## THEMACER (Sep 6, 2002)

Yup works great with jaguar.


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## Rhino_G3 (Sep 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by BuddahBobb _
> *ok say if this doesnt work, will i be able to reflash the card and stick it in my pc at the very least? *



Unfortunately, if you hose the ROM the card is trashed as well.

I believe you MIGHT be able to reflash the rom if you have a PC an extra Video card to boot off of (PCI) and a Motherboard that will support using the PCI card as the primary card and the AGP as secondary.


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## btoneill (Sep 6, 2002)

If you get a card that is known to work, the odds of toasting the ROM is pretty small. You just need to follow the directions properly and make sure you know what card you have. As long as the card you have is made by ATI you really shouldn't have any problem. Most of the issue folks have now is using cards using the 8500 chipset but not actually manufactured by ATI. The other thing to watch out for is to make sure the ROM you use is set to the right speed, on a LE card, you should use the 230/230 one, on the retail the 250/270 one. But you can figure that out pretty easy by the model number, or by sticking it into a PC.

And yeah, my flashed 8500 LE works great in Jag.

Brian


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## kommakazi (Sep 8, 2002)

Would this also work with a PCI Radeon 7000 Retail? My B&W Tower doesn't have an AGP slot so this is the best card I can get, but the cheapest I can find the Mac verison is $99.99 and the PC one is only $51.00 at newegg.com
Would it work to flash the ROM on it like you did with your AGP card?


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## btoneill (Sep 9, 2002)

No one to my knowledge has been able to flash a 7000. Not even sure if the 7000 has a flashable BIOS on it.

Brian


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## Oscar Castillo (Sep 10, 2002)

> _Originally posted by wlescall _
> *
> 5. Restarted leaving CRT unconnected, waited 5 min, shut down.
> 6. Replaced Radeon with original card. Restarted, replaced the FIRMWARE RESTORE with Firmware UPDATE. Shut down.
> *



If under OS 9 the startup folder automartically launches whatever's in there at boot, then in step 6 wouldn't replacing the original card and rebooting do a FIRMWARE RESTORE to your original ATI board.  You haven't the FIRMWARE RESTORE.


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## Captain Code (Sep 10, 2002)

You have to hold down the Shift key so that the firmware restore application isn't launched.


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## Captain Code (Nov 17, 2002)

I'm about to order a PC 8500 card to flash for use in my G4.  I want to know first though, does flashing the PC card with the Mac firmware work for all different variants of the 8500?  I want to get the 128MB DDR RAM(all in wonder?) one, but not if my Mac won't see all the RAM.


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## THEMACER (Nov 17, 2002)

I think ive seen some people that said it work but then some that didnt. i flashed mine but the 64mb one.


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