Yooo!

Update 10/11/12 : I finally got a working rom that will work with the card im currently flashing in this tutorial. If your card is a Radeon 9800 and it's based off the XT board design, you will need to use the Modified PPC ATi rom. It is 128K in size, and I didn't find a "reduced" version that is V130. So head on over to Mac Elite and pick up the Radeon 9800 256MB hack Version 130... Version 130 were the only ones to work with these XT board designs that had 256MB. Now you know. :)

**MorphOS will only see 128MB total, but booting into Mac Installer, it sees all 256MB.**

***There are some 9800 PRO cards that have 16 memory chips on them to make 256MB, but as of now, there is no working rom for them as they will only show a corrupted graphics screen. I have no idea if you can flash the card with a 128MB rom and be ok, but be warned!***

**Before getting started, I remove the resistors from the cards because I do not own any ADC compatible monitors, so instead of taping over/scraping at the traces, I simply removed them. Whichever method you prefer, just find a way to disable pins 3&11 from back of the card.**


So this isn't quite a "Complete" tutorial to flashing a Radeon card, but this is one that will hopefully help someone out there that might develop quite a headache.

First things first, I won a Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB card off ebay ($20 after shipping) and finally arrived in the mail today. There were a few differences between my previous Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB card, as you see in these picture:

cardsfront.jpg

cardsback.jpg

The one I labeled XT is the Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB, but its reference design is based off the 9800 XT board. No biggie, so I figured the locations to desolder resistors R2 and R4 on back were at the same spot, but they were not! I tracked down where Pins 3 & 11 were going, so if you have the XT design, these are the two you want to desolder from the back:

xtboardr2.jpg

xtboardr4.jpg

**After looking at another 9800 XT mac edition, R5 and R6 are intact... I would't bother removing them... Though another guide said to remove them.

xtboardr5r6.jpg

Almost there! This was the part I had quite the headache. I went over to Mac Elite and downloaded the Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB rom (the 128k sized one) and flashed it over to the 256MB Radeon I have, it programmed with success. I swapped the card over to my MDD Mac, and WHAP! CORRUPTED graphics! ARGH!! Tried out a 9800 XT bios, and same story, more corrupted graphics. Tried the "reduced" roms as well, and same story.......

So after doing a search, It turns out that someone had terrible luck flashing the Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB card Version 134.... It gave them garbage on the screen, but turns out with the PREVIOUS 130 version, everything was A ok! So my luck I didnt bother to try out the previous version of the Mac Bios on this 256MB Radeon. I went ahead and flashed this bios from Mac Rumors (Download the 130 bios from there). This is a 128MB version of the bios, use get27's links for the 256MB bios. Scroll down for his post.

To my amazement, it worked! Turns out some 9800XT boards hated certain Mac bios. Either way, hope this helps someone out. Just getting ready for the R3xx drivers to be released.

Enjoy!

**It came to my understanding that some PRO and XT cards had a 64KB flash on them, and some with 128K flash. Some SST flash were labled 64KB, when infact they are 128K! To be on the safe side, just flash the reduced Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB Version 130 if you are having issues. My other 128MB Pro card flashed fine with the latest v134.**

[ Edited by Doffo 11.10.2012 - 21:59 ]

I think it's also worth to mention, that if you Flash your XT with actual XT rom, you'll loose the ability to use the DVI port (for DVI displays, works with VGA adapter). Also if the card has only 64k rom, when flashed with reduced rom, it requires ATI ROM Extender to fully function in OSX. That might mean it won't work in Morphos. I haven't actually tried, all my XTs are flashed with Pro (full) roms hexed to XT specs. Also the XT runs hotter and louder with Pro rom, so better to install some ram heat sinks and even then you might end up with corrupted graphics due to cracked solder joint under the ram chips.

Thanks for the extra info! Yea, by any means I don't encourage to flash an actual XT rom without adding some kind of extra heatsinks to your GPU and RAM chips. So far it worked on MorphOS with the reduced rom, but if there are problems ill flash it with the full 128K since the card did flash ok with it. I just want to rule out later if there are any issues with GPU 3D in MOS using smaller roms. So far the 9200SE I have with a smaller rom works good in 3D and no issues that I could tell.

Just had to throw out the information that some Radeon 9800 PROs do infact have the XT board design.

Any more info anyone wants to put on here is welcome!

A lot more detailed, and includes several mods I didn't bother with.

My own card?
It came with a larger rom.
I flashed it with the original Apple rom, taped over pins 3 and 11 (so I could later remove the tape if I wanted to install the card in a G5) and popped it in my FW800 with my LCD monitor hooked to the VA output.

viola!

Your guide makes it looked more complicated then it actually is.
Even if you've only got a 64k rom, you just substitute a reduced rom for the original rom and do the same.

Yea, I don't mean to make it too detailed, most Radeon PROs that are 128mb is just a matter of a reflash and removing those pins/taping over them, and works without a hiccup. I just happen to have my own cards that my 128MB had a 64KB rom, and my 256MB hated the version 134 of the Radeon PRO 256MB rom. Either way, just figured id throw in my two cents. :)

Hi,

i changed my graphic card in my QS2002 with a PC Radeon 9800 128MB.
64k chip rom is on the card, but 64k reduced rom have a fully working VGA and DVI port.
Works well under MorphOS 2.7 but very slowly under MorphOS 3.x with enhanced screen on.

If you want to reflash your Radeon, let's have a look (in french):
9500 : http://amigaga.chez-alice.fr/ng/bidouilles/video/flash_pc_mac/radeon9500pro.htm
9700 : http://amigaga.chez-alice.fr/ng/bidouilles/video/flash_pc_mac/radeon9700pro.htm
9800 128MB : http://amigaga.chez-alice.fr/ng/bidouilles/video/flash_pc_mac/radeon9800pro128.htm
9800 256MB : http://amigaga.chez-alice.fr/ng/bidouilles/video/flash_pc_mac/radeon9800pro256.htm

Works under OSX but grey screen with MorphOS (R400 chip is not supported actually)
X800 : http://amigaga.chez-alice.fr/ng/bidouilles/video/flash_pc_mac/radeonx800pro.htm

Doffo, I actually appreciate that you've included the resistor mods and the details for flashing a 64k rom.
It is safer (once installed) to have those resistors removed rather then just taping over the pins.
In fact, taping can be tedious. you really need a sharp Eacto knife or a scalpel to get it right.
And if it isn't done right or the tapes is damaged the card may not work correctly.

Good work.
I hope to more MorphOS users join us in using R300 equipt machines.
Once a 3D driver is released these cards should really fly.

[ Edited by Jim 05.10.2012 - 16:05 ]

@get27

Thanks! Helpful links for sure.

@Jim

Not a problem.

Though now I have another issue at hand... it only detects 128MB? Was that the most MOS does now or it should of done more? And now if when you go to set a screensaver that happens to have 3d, it just locks up the system?

Anyone else have these issues?

I stand corrected, that bios I posted was infact for a 128MB, so now I will use the bios that get27 provided. Thanks!

**

After flashing the 256MB, it did the same exact thing... Corrupted screens! but after trying to fight the corrupted screens, I seen that MorphOS only picked up 32MB, so not sure now if its a conflict between the actual ram on the system or if the video card is mislabled and is infact 128MB? sticker reads 256MB on back, and the bios on the PC works fine with it.

I also tested the 128KB Radeon 9800 128MB as of this post, and still gets lockup trying to set a screensaver. so it leads me to believe whether you have a 64K flash or 128K flash, same results with the 9800 PROs.

[ Edited by Doffo 05.10.2012 - 11:27 ]

Good luck on this.
Wish I could help, but so far the only 9800 I've re-flashed has been my own with the 128k rom.
I have flashed a few 9700s, but they're all 128MB anyway.


BTW - I'm curious. The hardware compatibility page for MorphOS doesn't list 9500Pro card.
But since this is very similar to a 9700, should they work too?

[ Edited by Jim 05.10.2012 - 19:24 ]

@ Doffo : Try with a fresh install of MorphOS 2.7, there's problem with MorphOS 3.x
@ Jim: I confirm Radeon 9500 works

Thanks Get27,
I'm going to start buying R300 based cards for conversion.
Anyone that wants one, just PM me for a list of available cards.

And I'll also try to donate these (and other components/systems) to Papiosaur and AmigaDave's projects.

I did try 2.7, but this corruption happens well before MOS loads up. Gonna try to solder back pins R5 and R6, but doubt that will do me good. For a fact I know 2.7 runs good on my other 9200SEs, but 3.1 has black/white polygons scrambled.

I will try to hack at it some more to see if I can even get 256MB to work. Jim, is your 9800XT full 256MB on MOS?

> Jim, is your 9800XT full 256MB on MOS?

I think he said it isn't, there:

https://morph.zone/modules/news/article.php?item_id=1961&comment_id=6928&mode=thread

I don't believe it is (that is I think I'm still only showing 128MB).

BUT, I have the card out of my FW800 right now because the cooling fan is failing.

To be honest with you, I'm not real impressed with the cooling fans ATI used on R300 and R400 video cards.

As soon as I get a replacement I'll double check.

Remember, the extra 128MB isn't all that important with only a 2D driver.

Andreas' system makes due with half as much and most people seem completely satisfied with 64MB.

I, myself, used to run a 9100 that only supported 64MB thanks to the modified 8500 bios.

Finally figured out my issue with the video card. See the first post for the changes. :)

Doffo,

Bad ass! Great work!

> I think I'm still only showing 128MB

'GraphicBoards' window shot by eastone showing 256 MiB recognized with Radeon 9800XT:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8082/8315527938_9b77474e9e_z.jpg

Edit:

256 MiB with Radeon 9600Pro on PowerMac G5:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=69796

256 MiB with Radeon 9800:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=87974

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 31.05.2014 - 10:44 ]

I would not recommend using a Radeon 9800XT with the original Mac BIOS or a reduced BIOS as the fan speed control is not properly enabled without extensions that are only available under OSX.
I have already experienced this problem as I had a 9800XT that functioned perfectly initially, but is now artifacting.

Please learn from my experience.

I would recommend using a Radeon 9800Pro Bios for these cards. The BIOS can be suitably modified to run the GPU and memory at 9800XT speeds and the cooling fan will run at 100%, protecting your GPU.

Jim Igou (Iggy)

strange because though MOS shows me 128mb ram, os x shows up with 256mb.