Flashing a 256m ati 9600 pro

[XaPHER]

A while ago I got a radeon 9600 pro with 256mb VRAM. It flashes and works with the OEM apple 9600pro roms but only 64mb vram is detected. So there's a little missing something. Given what was interesting about this card was the 256mb, I'm still hoping to get it to work.

-8 BGA chips
-Essentially the same card as a g5 9600pro but more VRAM;
-radeon 9600pro (mac/pc) retail ROMs won't work nor any 9600xt rom (wrong memory bus width)

Editing fcode is a possibility; I have sufficient firmworks/sun docs to try it out but powermacs's OF general debugging facilities are crippled, so I think I need more reference on ati cards firsthand. I haven't found many resources covering this (mac elite didn't help, most card flashing sites are down) but if I'm missing something here (be it info, or a flash-ready ROM) please let me know.

This is more a "just in case" because I hope not to have to spend an unreasonable amount of time on figuring things out.

Thanks

 

[benwild_33]

Would a G5 9650 rom not work? They're essentially a 9600 with 256MB VRAM

 

[XaPHER]

Would a G5 9650 rom not work? They're essentially a 9600 with 256MB VRAM

Yes that's right, but 9650 cards use TSOP chips instead of BGA so it's unlikely to work without important surgery to the ROM.

After some Mac Elite custom ROMs comparison, adjusting VRAM size is a matter of 2 or 3 bytes if I'm not off-track. So it's trivial as long as I can figure how everything works... Guess I'll have to be patient for this.

 

[LightBulbFun]

the Apple ATI Radeon 9650 uses BGA RAM chips

so it may still be an option for you

but I do look forward to seeing if you can figure out how to edit ATI ROMs

 

[XaPHER]

@LightBulbFun Thanks for pointing that out. I used the table from http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2 as reference but ebay pics of a mac 9650 confirm it has BGA. (I believe) I tried flashing a 9650 rom to the 9600 in the past. Just to make sure of it I retried and got this (screenshot @ VNC):



display is set to 1024x768.. So right now the only option is to edit a 9600 ROM. That might take some time.

 

[LightBulbFun]

its worth noting that flashed PC 9600 will only give you VGA output IIRC

if your looking for something to be usable rather then just a bit of fun, id recommend picking up a Mac 9600/9650, they are pretty cheap on ebay these days

 

[Project Alice]

its worth noting that flashed PC 9600 will only give you VGA output IIRC

if your looking for something to be usable rather then just a bit of fun, id recommend picking up a Mac 9600/9650, they are pretty cheap on ebay these days

Is this true for 9800 Pros?? I have been looking for one for my Sawtooth.. But if I can't use DVI it isn't even worth it. It currently has a Geforce 6200 in it.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Is this true for 9800 Pros?? I have been looking for one for my Sawtooth.. But if I can't use DVI it isn't even worth it. It currently has a Geforce 6200 in it.

no its only true for 9600s and X800/X850s (and 9800 XTs if you flash them with a 9800 XT ROM, but are fine with a 9800 Pro ROM bar fan control)

 

[XaPHER]

@LightBulbFun My FireGL X3 outputs digital just fine, what about you? (Though I've stopped using it since Linux R420 drivers are unusable on a powermac)

If I end up making a working ROM there'll definitely be a curiosity/learning part. I have 5 AGP G4 towers right now and at least 4 G5 9600 pro's. Though I'm starting to feel like actually attempting this. I've been wanting to learn fcode for a while; I like forth.

 

[LightBulbFun]

yeah FireGL X3s are fine, but i never mentioned those (you say the R420 linux drivers are unstable, I NEVER got them to work, did you?)

one thing worth mentioning in the display output front, due to how OS X works with ATI/AMD Cards, and Frame-buffer personalities

if you say get DVI working in OpenFirmware it may go dead once the OS X drivers kick in

(because OS X has its own port layout list of sorts for each type of card, thats what the whole ATY,name thing is about)

 

[XaPHER]

No, R420 driver is definitely unusable. Only thing I can do is disable modesetting radeonfb disabled as well) to avoid losing signal.

For the rest I agree, but I'm not thinking about DVI right now (I meant getting the full 256mb VRAM detected, DVI output is another matter)

 

[LightBulbFun]

No, R420 driver is definitely unusable. Only thing I can do is disable modesetting radeonfb disabled as well) to avoid losing signal.

For the rest I agree, but I'm not thinking about DVI right now (I meant getting the full 256mb VRAM detected, DVI output is another matter)

yeah I had to completely disable the driver to get into linux, with it enabled the system just crashed more or less, I wonder what the issue is there...

yeah Just mentioning the DVI thing, so you dont blame your fCode mods, when it could actually be an OS X issue

 

[DearthnVader]

A while ago I got a radeon 9600 pro with 256mb VRAM. It flashes and works with the OEM apple 9600pro roms but only 64mb vram is detected. So there's a little missing something. Given what was interesting about this card was the 256mb, I'm still hoping to get it to work.

-8 BGA chips
-Essentially the same card as a g5 9600pro but more VRAM;
-radeon 9600pro (mac/pc) retail ROMs won't work nor any 9600xt rom (wrong memory bus width)

Editing fcode is a possibility; I have sufficient firmworks/sun docs to try it out but powermacs's OF general debugging facilities are crippled, so I think I need more reference on ati cards firsthand. I haven't found many resources covering this (mac elite didn't help, most card flashing sites are down) but if I'm missing something here (be it info, or a flash-ready ROM) please let me know.

This is more a "just in case" because I hope not to have to spend an unreasonable amount of time on figuring things out.

Thanks

OEM Radeon 9600 Pro 120 AGP 4x/8x 365/295 MHz 64/128MB BGA DDR 128KB

I'd look first at offset 0x5D0:

10 00 00 00 21 B5 08 97 BA 10 00 00 00 22 B5 08

Or:

b(lit) ( 0x010 ) 0x21
   461: new-token ( 0x0b5 ) 0x897
   462: b(constant) ( 0x0ba )
   463: b(lit) ( 0x010 ) 0x22

A change maybe:

10 00 00 00 21 B5 08 97 BA 10 00 00 00 2A B5 08

Next we have to find the checksum byte and recalculate it:

3:   checksum:  0x19c7 (Ok)

OLD

3:   checksum should be:  0x19cf, but is 0x19c7

New

 

[DearthnVader]

Here is a edited ROM you could try. I tale no responsibility if it bricks your card or burns your house down.

 

[XaPHER]

@DearthnVader Where did the output quoted in your first reply come from? The ROM uploaded still gets 64mb detected.

I fixed the fcode header's checksum (0x19CF to 0x19D7) before flashing. Am I correct to believe the two bytes changed (excluding the checksum) in this one are based on the differences of a 128mb vs a 256mb 9800 pro? That's what I had in mind actually. Though how did you manage to go straight to 0x5d0?

I think I need more time before I'm able to correctly interpret Fcode.

 

[DearthnVader]

@DearthnVader Where did the output quoted in your first reply come from? The ROM uploaded still gets 64mb detected.

I fixed the fcode header's checksum (0x19CF to 0x19D7) before flashing. Am I correct to believe the two bytes changed (excluding the checksum) in this one are based on the differences of a 128mb vs a 256mb 9800 pro? That's what I had in mind actually. Though how did you manage to go straight to 0x5d0?

I think I need more time before I'm able to correctly interpret Fcode.

Yes I tried to reverse what Atri did with the v130 256MB 9800 Pro ROM, but I see that didn't work.

I went looking for the string:

10 00 00 00 22

Also the string:

10 08 00 00

 

[XaPHER]

It's possibly related to the fact OEM 9600 comes in 64/128m configs and autodetects it. I'll try some more things and see what happens.

 

[XaPHER]

Oh what the.. Goddamn I did it looking for a something half of 128mb... System profiler reports 256mb O_O That didn't take long.

I'll post a screenshot once I test the card a bit.

 

[DearthnVader]

Oh what the.. Goddamn I did it looking for a something half of 128mb... System profiler reports 256mb O_O That didn't take long.

I'll post a screenshot once I test the card a bit.

You may want to use OpenGL Drive Monitor to check all your VRam is mapped.

If you want to test to be sure you can go beyond the 128MB boundary, just command-new a bunch of Safari windows.

 

[XaPHER]

The driver attempts to use all the VRAM, but the VRAM map is definitely incorrect. Once I go below 200mb free, other buffers get overwritten and first symptom is windows/menu shadows become all sorts of colors. So I guess adresses are still referencing 64mb.

I've used some time to look at the retail 9600 and oem 9650 ROMs for hints without success. Unless I really feel like doing trial-and-error while the serial EEPROM lasts, I think I'll give it a break at the very least until I think of something.

 

[DearthnVader]

The driver attempts to use all the VRAM, but the VRAM map is definitely incorrect. Once I go below 200mb free, other buffers get overwritten and first symptom is windows/menu shadows become all sorts of colors. So I guess adresses are still referencing 64mb.

I've used some time to look at the retail 9600 and oem 9650 ROMs for hints without success. Unless I really feel like doing trial-and-error while the serial EEPROM lasts, I think I'll give it a break at the very least until I think of something.

Maybe a combination of the changes I made, with the change you made?

There is a way to test before you flash, but with nVidia cards it wouldn't boot OS X. I was greeted with a kernel panic, tho it may work for ATI cards.

Testing FCode roms before you flash.

 

[XaPHER]

Maybe a combination of the changes I made, with the change you made?

There is a way to test before you flash, but with nVidia cards it wouldn't boot OS X. I was greeted with a kernel panic, tho it may work for ATI cards.

Testing FCode roms before you flash.

In fact the

$10 10 00 00 00

part seems to work (since 64mb was detected i changed from 04 to 10 instead of 08 to 10), but I believe the value of 2A in

$10 00 00 00 2A

is card-dependent and I'm also unsure what offset the good sequence is at. The change to the former sequence by itself suffices for system profiler to say 256mb..

Yes, attempting to load the rom from the HD sounds like a good plan. I'll see if I can setup an nvramrc to speed up the process. Thanks for the help so far btw

 

[DearthnVader]

In fact the

$10 10 00 00 00

part seems to work (since 64mb was detected i changed from 04 to 10 instead of 08 to 10), but I believe the value of 2A in

$10 00 00 00 2A

is card-dependent and I'm also unsure what offset the good sequence is at. The change to the former sequence by itself suffices for system profiler to say 256mb..

Yes, attempting to load the rom from the HD sounds like a good plan. I'll see if I can setup an nvramrc to speed up the process. Thanks for the help so far btw

Please post the ROM( unmodified ) you are trying to edit.

 

[XaPHER]

OEM 9600 pro rev 126 @ http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2

 

[mzs.112000]

Probably a dumb question, but... Is it possible to have two GPU's on one PowerMac G5?
I'm thinking, a Radeon X1900 used just to boot to desktop, but also have a more modern GPU(750 Ti) for games(QEMU with PCI passthrough, should allow most games to work, because they are largely GPU-bound...)