Asher’s chewing gum 6950 mod.
What is this?
This is a hardware mod that allows you to flash your 6950 BIOS. 6950s can be thought of as coming in 3 flavours; those with a BIOS switch, those without a BIOS switch that allow flashing, and those without a BIOS switch that don’t allow flashing. This guide is for the last group. Always try just flashing first to see if it works. I STRONGLY recommend using atiflash for this, not winflash. This is because you may cause problems if you try with winflash and fail, but atiflash will generally just deny the flash and leave the card unchanged. This happened to me.
If you don’t know how to back up your BIOS and make a modified version, go find that out first!
So, whats the mod all about?
This mod is simply shorting some pins on an IC that allows you to flash your BIOS. This mod is temporary – you can remove it once you have successfully flashed your BIOS. I am going to go into detail for every step for those that are nervous about doing it. You can skip towards the end if you know what you’re doing.
What do I need?
Your 6950, a screwdriver, a small piece of wire, and some chewing gum.
Chewing Gum?
The credit for this mod goes to SlaveOnDope
here. When I tried this mod, I had a lot of trouble looping the wire through the legs of the IC and stopping them touching the adjoining legs. Admittedly, it was in the wee hours of the morning and I was very tired. I came up with an easier method that gets the job done quickly and allows you to remove the mod easily even after you have replaced your cooler on your card.
Here is how it’s done...
This was done with a Sapphire series 6950. The procedure will be the same for all cards as far as I know.
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/4293/dscn2656o.jpgHere’s what the Sapphire card looks like, get a nice soft work surface to prevent damage.
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/9822/dscn2657h.jpgUnplug the fan.
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5749/dscn2658y.jpgFlip the card over and remove the 4 cooler screws.
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/4061/dscn2659mz.jpgSeparate the cooler from the GPU and locate the IC as indicated.
http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3618/dscn2661j.jpgThese are the two pins that will be bridged across.
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9257/dscn2667a.jpgNotice two things in this image. The first is that a tiny ball of chewing gum has been put on top of the IC – this is where the name ‘chewing gum mod’ comes from. Also notice that there is a small piece of wire below the card. This is about 1cm long with the plastic removed from each end and the ends bent at right angles. This is what we are going to use to bridge the legs of the IC.
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1033/dscn2654p.jpgStick the wire to the gum so that the bent ends touch the legs of the IC. It may take a tiny bit of fiddling to make sure the wire is in contact on both sides. I used tweezers as I was too clumsy with my hands.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9081/dscn2676h.jpgPut the cooler back on and flash your BIOS! Remember to plug the fan back in! You can see here that the mod is visible when the cooler is on. When you are done, just pull the mod off with tweezers or whatever without needing to remove the cooler again.
Good luck, have fun!