From: Jeff Walther <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2003 03:01:57 -0600 At 00:31 -0800 12/06/2003, Will S wrote:
A number of people have had luck with 9000+ cards but I don't really need one
at this time.But I'm sure there would be a market for them . No telling how
long the cards which can be flashed will be available. Not long I'd guess at this
point.
Are these flashed 9000 cards PCI or AGP? If PCI, where are they getting the firmware? Are they putting the firmware for the Mac AGP card on the PC PCI cards?
A very clever guy who I will not name has extracted the ROM from a Mac 9800 AGP card and somehow managed to get the ATI 7000 PCI flasher code modified so that it will work to flash a Power Color 9000 PCI card and also I think a 9100 model. I have to do more checking to be sure which cards this works with. Someone who posts a lot in Mac forms though not here(many of us would know the name as it's an odd one) did a really stupid thing. He and a couple of other people have been posting all sorts of questions and sometimes answers about flashing ATI PC cards at the forum where Bruno from ATI hangs out. Bruno is already asking people to report flashed ATI cards being sold on ebay to ebay as pirated cards. So in the middle of this the guy posts the above mentioned guys private website address where downloads of the flash ROMS are posted for the 9000 series PCI cards are available. He is now wondering in posts why he can't get the guy to help him flash his card and why no more info is forth coming and why the website is no longer available. He's also named in his cries for help at least one of the guys buddies and what forums they hang out in. Not to cause trouble but in his quest for answers...What a mess maybe the guys only 16 but he seems bright enough to really make you wonder. So because of this guy the "flasher guy" ;-) has for now disappeared. It's not likely ATI will or can legally go after them but it has perhaps resulted in ATI's war on PC card flashing. The 7000 series cards are cheap and older so ATI seemed to be looking the other way. But they freaked it seems when Bruno saw that the 9000 series had been flashed as well. This is their new expensive cards some of which sell for $400. and more but have clone versions much cheaper. While someone we know ;-) has what seems to be the correct files and code commands for flashing the 9000 series PCI cards there are still some questions on some things which are a bit vague.
The PCC power supply can go in the Umax box. It is a standard ATX power supply, so if you want something more than 250 watts, you can pick up any standard ATX power supply for the PTP. That was one of the nice things about the PCC machines.Thanks for the info on the Tower Pro machine. I got a copy of your template which will be very handy should I go that route. I've lots of ideas which I've gone no where with. Lack of cash and also my j700 runs really well jag or Panther. So sort of afraid to make any changes. I'd like to built up the Power Tower Pro with all new stuff. For example use the new Serial ATA card and get adapters to hook my Pioneer DVD RW to it as well . The cards are like $64. and the adapters for regular ATA/ide drives $25.00 each so not real expensive but not a good time right now.
The PTP motherboard should also fit in the Umax case, with the usual caveats about SIMM sockets and such possibly bumping into drive bays. I don't know how that will play out. You would still need an I/O Gasket or EMI shield--that piece of sheet metal that fits nicely around the ports in back and fills the standard sized rectangular space on the back of every ATX case.
There's a template for the rear plate for a PTP on my ftp/web space. Go to <http://www.io.com/~trag> or <http://www.jeffwalther.com> (the latter will have a bottom banner) and get the file "PTP_template". It's a pict so you'll need to open it on your desktop after downloading, not in a web browser.
It has scale lines on it. Okay, too much trouble to explain. I wrote this all up once and I just found the file. Instead of getting the pict listed above get "PTP_to_ATX.sea.hqx" which is a binhexed and Stuffed self extracting (after you un-binhex it) file. It has the template pict, an image of a rear panel built using this template and a brief read_me explaining how to use the template. One thing I didn't mention in the read_me is that while the Dremel is nice for the big cutting, a nice set of files, or at least one metal file is nearly essential to finish the thing. I bought a nice set of ten or fifteen small files in the gems & Jewelry section of Ebay for a small amount I don't remember--certainly under $15 and probably under $10, but that was years ago.
If there are any problems with the file please let me know. If any one is on the Power Computing list and if there is some repository over there, similar to the one Kennedy so kindly runs for SuperMacs, feel free to shoot the file over to them. It was also available on the MacGurus ftp server, but I'm not sure if they got the ftp server back up since they revamped. I know they managed to save the content (of the ftp server), but it may not be available.
Jeff Walther
It seems that the Power Color 32 and 64 mb Video cards have correctly labeled flash roms. Cards which won't flash have the smaller chip and the ones that do work have the larger chip! So the part numbers as you reported:
The chips are from ST Microelectronics. They are M25P05V6 chips. ST Micro lists those as a 64 KB serial flash chip. The 128KB flash is a M25P10V6.
Clearly seem to indicate which Power Color cards will work and which won't. So the wrongly labeled chips theory could be correct.
Can you look at your Sapphire cards and tell me where the Flash ROM chip is located and how to identify ? I'm trying to help David R buy a Power Color card which can be flashed. My machine is at the bottom of a stack of other machines and Monitors and would take forever to get to the card. I am guessing the chip lay out is the same on both cards though it could be different but not by much. thanks Will S
-- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
