Changing G400 DualHead to G400 MAX through pins

[RichL]

Originally posted by OZZIE_NO_GOOD
yo hi all old g400 users i got question why don't i get my pinfile
it says this \

MGA Bios Programming Utility v2.18.000d
(C) Matrox Graphics Inc. (2001)

- WARNING: No MGA Board found !

why is that what am i doint wrong i have done the trik before but forgot him pleaze help

i used the comand in the run under start c:\mgafold\sysutil208\progbios.exe -d>testpins.txt

whats wrong ??

Hmm, possibly :

Originally posted by George YS

the dos programming utility included in 2.08 can NOT be run in windows, therefore u are better to find the 2.07 BIOS for its dos programming utility, which can be run under windows environment.

Looks like you're using a version of the Bios util later than 2.07 under Windows, which apparently doesnt work.

[OZZIE_NO_GOOD]

well tried that one but i am using winxp and it does not work under xp

[Shifter25]

I'm also having the same problem using Win XP. has anyone changed their G400 -> max speed using this method in XP? Can u share how you did it? thanks in advance!

[George YS]

I did that do my G400 when I was still using Win98. For XP, dos box is nearly useless. Why don't u try to flash it in real dos?
Use a bootdisk for windows9x/ME and boot it to dos. But this will not work if u had formatted ur HD to NTFS, since dos can't access such partition.

[gbm]

DOS-based PROGBIOS cannot be used under any Windows.
It won't run under XP/2k
It will run and usually DESTROY the BIOS under Win9x/Me.

To run PROGBIOS, boot pure DOS (use "restart in DOS mode" under Win9x)

[George YS]

Originally posted by gbm
DOS-based PROGBIOS cannot be used under any Windows.
It won't run under XP/2k
It will run and usually DESTROY the BIOS under Win9x/Me.

To run PROGBIOS, boot pure DOS (use "restart in DOS mode" under Win9x)

Yea, u are right. But if fact progbios before version 2.08 worked without any problems in the DOS box of Windows9x, though it is not recommended.

[gbm]

If by "worked" you mean "managed to successfully destroy the BIOS", you are right.

The point is: PROGBIOS CANNOT run under Windows, as in most cases it will destroy the BIOS. Sometimes it won't.

Got it?

[OZZIE_NO_GOOD]

Hello al peeps has anybody got the original pin for me my g400 now gifs me big corupted pics.


I got a 32Mb G400 DH so plz can anybody send me a good working pin.txt plz

I hope he wil work good again else my mobo is broke my Voltage of the I/O is to low 2.85v so the only way to findout is flash it with a good pin.txt

you can send it to ozzie_no_good@hotmail.com

Thnx ozzie

[Greebe]

pardon me

































BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Admiral]

Originally posted by OZZIE_NO_GOOD
I got a 32Mb G400 DH so plz can anybody send me a good working pin.txt plz

There was a Japanese site that hosted all the bios files for all the G400, G400 MAX revisions, though the threads that hold the link were rather old and seem to have been deleted (out of space ?).
Maybe someone has bookmarked the link ?

Anyway, you could at least post what revision your card is (to be found written somewhere on your card, have a look), since it won't do you any good to flash it with a different revision bios.
And there's always the bios recovery (restore?) utility on Matrox's site (go search for it, I don't have the link).

Next time when people tell you to flash it from DOS do listen and also remember to backup your existing valid pins just in case

[UtwigMU]

1. Go to Matrox tech support utilities section.

2. Download Restore BIOS utility.

3. Restore BIOS (this is done by booting from floppy restore utility creates and G400 in slot under DOS)

If this doesn't work flash the BIOS with correct pins.

4. Buy G400MAX for 25pounds/40$/€ - see identify this card thread.

Don't play with pins if you don't have to.

[Nowhere]

Admiral, you mean this one?

P.S. Does someone know if this will work with G400 16MB SH? Hmmm...G400MAX with 16MB and no Dual Head...this would be interesting

[Admiral]

Originally posted by Nowhere
Admiral, you mean this one?

P.S. Does someone know if this will work with G400 16MB SH? Hmmm...G400MAX with 16MB and no Dual Head...this would be interesting

Don't know Japanese but that seems to rather be a description on how to change the pins.

You can overclock your G400 through the bios and leave it detected as a G400. It's not like you flash the MAX pins on a G400 to overclock it, you just change some things on your existing pins after dumping them on file and reflash them (after you make a backup of the original pins).

But just for the sake of it try changing your SubsystemVendorId to ":SubsystemVendorId 0x217D102b" (without the quotes; that's what the MAX ID is).
This will only make the driver installer detect it as a G400 MAX, it won't change clock or RAMDAC settings, just the name of your card.
For clock and RAMDAC you have to change other bios pin locations.

[Nowhere]

btw, I think it would be cool (and safe!) to change only pins that are responsible for card detection...I've always wanted to see "G400MAX" in device menager without burning my card

[D0ug]

Does anyone happen to know of a site that has a description of what each line in the PINS file does?