NVIDIA GeForce BIOS Flash Guide Written by Mavke Monday, 15 March 2004 There are 2 ways on how to Flash your NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Card and those depend on the Program that you use. Make sure you always make a Backup of your Original BIOS first! As always if you flash to another vender ID, you MUST re-install the drivers!
First of all you will have to make a bootable disk (Only the registered members can see the link) and copy over nvflash.exe and its dependency runtime for 4.xx/5.xx nvFlash - cwsdpmi.exe, along with the BIOS you choose to use.
After you created the bootatable disk, restart your PC with the boot disk. At the command prompt, type the following and begin your flash process.
GeForce 4 & GeForce FX Flash Procedures.
- Flashing with nvFlash (nVidia) - Use nvFlash v4.XX
Standard Procedure for 4.XX: (flashing with 4.XX is recommended on the GF4 & FX series NVIDIA chipsets)
1. nvflash -b backup.rom [Enter]
Standard back-up (saves BIOS to Floppy)
2. nvflash -p -u -f file.rom [Enter]
Standard Flash (same card, new firmware)
2. nvflash -p -u -r -j file.rom [Enter]
(Different model card, removes eeprom protection, using different firmware)
GeForce 6 & 7 Flash Procedures.
- Flashing with nvFlash (nVidia) - Use nvFlash 5.13
Standard Procedure for 5.13: (flashing with 5.13 is recommended for the use with the 6x00 series NVIDIA cards, using the -4 switch forces flash and overrides vender mismatch)
1. nvflash -5 file.rom [Enter]
Standard Flash (same card, same firmware)
2. nvflash -5 -6 file.rom [Enter]
Standard Flash (same card, same firmware)
3. nvflash -4 -5 -6 file.rom [Enter]
Force Flash (different model card, different firmware)
4. nvflash -4 -5 -6 -a -y file.rom [Enter]
Automatic Force/Blind Flash (In case you screw up and cant see the screen - best to use this string for a autoexec.bat)
It is highly recommended to use nvFlash over anything else when flashing NVIDIA cards. Flashing from a Bootable CD is not recommended. If you don't have a floppy, buy one, they are in-expensive while saving loads of hassles on some system configurations.
*Important* If you are using softmods and other tweaking applications, uninstall them prior to flashing. This goes for Riva Tuner and others. Why? Because most people flash, leaving those programs resident, so those utilities, try to force the video card to those saved settings in software and that causes problems for a card with a fresh flash or a new device ID.
*Remember* To always change out the drivers after a flash, most people forget this and then wonder why the drivers are giving them problems or why they get strange effects in there games. Always re-install the drivers and turn off any anti-virus before doing so. Rename the file to something thats easy to remember and point the string path too.
- Flashing with WFFlash (Leadtek) - Use WFFlash v5.1 or 5.6
Standard Procedure:
1. wfflash.exe -s backup.rom [Enter] (to backup the Orginal BIOS)
2. wfflash.exe file.rom [Enter] (to flash your card with a new BIOS)
Non Standard Procedure:
(In case the Standard Procedure doesn't work)
2*. wfflash.exe NM File.rom [Enter]
When you have a Backup of your Original BIOS, please also submit it on my site or mail it to me (
[email protected])This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , so that I can put it in my Archive.
Try to Provide the following information :
- Brand of the Card
- Type of the Card
- Amount of Memory on the Card