SOLVED Help with installing EVGA BIOS update

[JeremyCT]

I have an EVGA GTX570 SC. I'd like to install the "fan unlocker" BIOS update for it as it supposedly has some stability improvements related to some voltage adjustments. I've been having trouble with card stability in games that use a lot of DX11 like Civ5 and Far Cry 3 that were resolved with a manual (software) voltage bump, so it sounded like a good idea.

After some searching, I managed to locate the v1.2 of the BIOS update file for the 1572 cards (EVGA no longer lists BIOS files on their FTP, so it was a small challenge to find). Supposedly, it will install from within Windows, but I'm having no luck. When I launch the Setup file, a new DOS window pops up, then disappears within about a quarter second. I tried running it with Admin rights and from an elevated command prompt. Aggravatingly, running the program from within the elevated command prompt still opens a secondary window which immediately closes, so I can't read what's on that screen before it disappears. If I pay real close attention, I think I see something about "no display adapters found" before it disappears.

Does the update utility not work with Windows 8 for some reason? Fresh Windows install (as in, this morning).

Part# 012-P3-1572-TR
Current BIOS per GPU-Z: 70.10.17.00.74

I'd ask the EVGA forum, but they want all my marketable information including phone number, home address, first born child, yadda x 3 just to register to download software and post on their tech forum.

 

[dtrunk]

i'm not completely familiar with your card and the process, but did flash the bios on my gtx680. as far as ALL the information I read, you don't want to do this in windows; you want to do this from a bootable cd/flash drive. it might not be necessary but i also removed the drivers for the card prior to flashing. The program i used to flash was NVflash.

evga wants all your info to assure u are the card owner. all they will tell you, it's not supported. READ around the internet, there is a lot of information on flashing/updating bios on nvidia gtx5xx series cards.

 

[JeremyCT]

Can NVflash handle the .sys format of the EVGA BIOS update files? Last time I used it, it only dealt with .bin and .rom files. NVflash doesn't work from within Windows, but this is supposed to.

Not supported? BS, it's an official update direct from EVGA. This isn't some random custom BIOS made by some nameless internet person (talented though some of them are). It's a BIOS update recommended by EVGA for dealing with certain problems, some of which I'm experiencing.

 

[Bobnova]

My opinion:
If the card requires more voltage to run stock clocks, it's RMA time.

 

[JeremyCT]

My opinion:
If the card requires more voltage to run stock clocks, it's RMA time.

Card was purchased used. It's much easier to install a BIOS update than hassle the seller and wait a few weeks for RMA turnaround.

 

[dtrunk]

sorry to say, but this is one of those times where i'd bother to CALL or register/open a support ticket directly with EVGA. i would NOT be surprised to find out that the updater doesn't work in Win8; they may be working on that.

do you have a Win7 system avail? spare hard drive (partition/install of win7 on your main drive??)

 

[wingman99]

Have you tried the 310.70 driver update, it help with my GTX570 SC and BF3 crashing.

 

[JeremyCT]

Well, this has been a long time coming, but after a few back and forths with EVGA about this, I'm going to wind up RMAing the card. No idea why the BIOS update wouldn't work in Windows 8. It also didn't work in Windows 7.

So something wrong with the card apparently. It's going back.