Ok, i signed up to this board with the sole purpose of informing those people that have like me, been stuck at using 169.04s to software overclock their drivers. Just recently, a new method that is relatively easy to be done has been discovered whereinby you can alter the clocks of the actual bios installation to change your stock values to whatever your highest OC values are. Then, when you flash the bios (same way you would with an
HP update), your stock values are changed to those you have created instead of the default 500/1000/400 or w/e they may be. It is fairly simple and safe, and you can flash the default HP bios within windows in case you screw things up. I will explain better on how to do this. In the past, this hasn't really been documented to help the masses i believe, so i will be taking those steps and adding comments to the original method as i go along.
This method should technically work with all RECENT HP laptops including those with 8400gs/7600 cards. I DID NOT FIND this method, but i did use it successfully and know what to look for when explaining the process.
A little history- With many laptops in the past, there was a method of combining a program called nibitor with another one called nvflash to flash a video bios with OC settings in dos. THis required a lot of work using a usb drive and several applications. This method also doesn't work for hp laptops. HOWEVER, the way to OC for all HP laptops is actually easier. Here are the steps to follow:
This is a disclaimer that if you screw things up, obviously its your own fault for doing so, and i am in no way to be held responsible.
Before you begin, i'm assuming you understand how overclocking works and you're not a beginner at it. If that's not the case, then go read a guide on how to overclock with Rivatuner while using the the 169.04 drivers that let you overclock (without the sliders resetting), until you figure out a stable config for your system. Each video card is different in how much OCing it can do. For those who already know what their stable clocks are with this driver, proceed below.
Step 1)Find a program called Phoenix Bios Editor Pro 2.2.0.1 (Dont ask me where you can find it- Those resourceful enough shouldnt have any problems). Install it to your hardrive.
Step 2) Download the latest bios that is appropriate to your machine from the HP website. Extract its content with winrar or find the folder it creates after running the setup file. (usually C:\ swsetup) or something similar. Make a copy of this folder and put it in your desktop. We will be using this folder to edit the bios file, and keep the old one in case that you need to flash back to your original bios.
READ THIS HUGE NOTE- I've noticed some people claiming in another thread that the 256 8600gs in dv9500s overclocks higher than the 512 8600gs in dv9700s. I cannot confirm this to be true because i actually own a dv9500t and have been able to push my clocks to a stable 685/1370/ 552 with both 169.04s and the bios mod i am now explaining.
Here is the important part that EVERYONE SHOULD UNDERSTAND. When i first began overclocking, i was using the bios version f.23, which allowed me to reach those settings. This was the latest bios at the time when i had bought my dv9500. later on, i downloaded the f.45 bios that is available for both HP dv9500s and dv9700s. Right away, i noticed that my overclock instantly became unstable and my computer hanged. I had to lower my clocks MUCH lower before they became stable. I reverted back to f.23 bios, and sure enough i was able to OC as high as before once again.
My theory behind why the 512s generally overclock lower than the 256s 8600gs is because of a bios limitation found in the later video bioses that were made available for the dv9700. I do not know if you dv9700 owners can install the f.23 bios since i cannot test it without having that computer, but if you could, it seems that you might reach higher levels of OC before your system hangs or produces artifacts. Those daring enough can try it, but be very careful in doing your homework and making sure that the f.23 bios DOES INDEED SUPPORT your chipset and hardware. WAIT UNTIL THE END OF THE GUIDE FOR A BETTER/SAFER SOLUTION TO TEST THIS THEORY.
Step 3) Download nibitor 3.9. Extract the files to a folder.
Step 4) Run phoenix bios editor and open the 30CCF45.WPH (dv9700), or 30CCF23.WPH (dv9500) file located on the bios folder that you copied to the desktop.
Step 5) it will display some alert messages. Check those out the first time you run it and make sure there is nothing critical but just some log messages alerting you that the chinese language is not fully supported etc., if it gives you some weird error message then don’t go ahead with the procedure. For my BIOS it gives me something like 10 to 20 alert messages when I load it. It’s pretty annoying so when you know everything is fine just check the box don’t show this again and click continue.
Step 6) Now, your video BIOS should be in your left hand side under the Option ROM folder in the editor interface. When you expand this folder and look through the files, look at the bottom of the program as you highlight each OPROM file. The one you need will display as NVIDIA VGA and it should be around 57-58 kb in size. Mine for instance is the one called "oprom2.rom", for the GeForce 256mb 8600gs, and it should be the same for all of you editing the f.45 bios.
The file "OPROM1.ROM" SHOULD NOT BE TAMPERED WITH. We had a user try to edit those values and basically ended up with a black screen upon bootup. After you familiarized yourself with the editor, go to the directory where you installed the Phoenix Editor and look for temp folder. It is very important that you access the temp folder while the Phoenix Editor is open and reading your BIOS, otherwise it will be empty. Copy/Paste the video OPROM file in that temp folder to your desktop.
Step 7) Open nibitor and then go down the list of OPROM files that you have saved to your desktop. I believe nibitor will only read 1 OPROM file without giving you errors, and this one will display your correct default stocks for your card.
*NOTE- In my own experience, this BIOS will be read as an 8400 instead of an 8600 by nibitor. Do not worry, as long as the clocks match your default clocks, then this is the right file. Now is the time to change the default clocks of the 3d core, shader, and memory to those you were able to achieve using the 169.04 drivers. DO NOT FLASH any higher than this, as the same rule of stability applies. If by some reason you are getting artifacts in your tests or something is being weird, you can always reflash the default HP bios back in and it should fix all your problems.
Step 8) Go ahead and save the file with the same name ( you have to browse and overwrite the old one).
Step 9) Now go back to in the phoenix editor and highlight the OPROM file that you contains the default stocks to your card (for mine it was OPROM2.rom). With the right file highlighted, choose "change" at the bottom and then browse for the nibitor-edited OPROM file that you have saved on your desktop, and replace it. This will replace the stock values of your card with whatever you put in nibitor.
Step 10) Before you are allowed to save, the Phoenix editor requires that you do a change before the "Build Bios" option becomes ungrayed. Look at the first window that popped up when you first opened the bios. It will display your bios menu "main, configuration, etc". Go ahead and change the 'main' value to something like 'main1' and hit ok. Then go BACK in and change it again to "main", like it was when you first opened the bios file. Now the phoenix editor will allow you to build the bios. --> file---> build bios.
If everyone went correct, it should say that the build was done correctly. If not, then you did something wrong and you should start over. When it asks you to save, replace the 30CCFXX.WPH file located inside the copied bios folder on your desktop.
You can now exit the phoenix editor, and then go inside of the desktop bios folder you created and
run showmsg1.exe.
The rest is as simple as installing any other bios update.
Reboot and see if your clocks are the ones you chose in nibitor. Then run some and see if the card is stable. If not, then you can always reflash the default bios and start all over again. It is not a very difficult or lengthy process, but i wanted to explain in detail to avoid confusion.
Now onto the interesting part. Remember i had mentioned that the f.45 bios or default dv9700 bioses seemed to allow less overclocking than the f.23 bios for the dv9500?
Well, i was able to achieve the best of both worlds by having an F.45 bios with a video OPROM from the f.23 bios that allows me to overclock higher.
WARNING - I cannot make any guarantees that this is safe for your system, especially if you have a dv9700, but it works perfectly with my dv9500 which has the 256mb version of the 8600gs.
The methods for this are simple as well.
Download both the f.23 and f.45 bios to your hardrive.
1)Open the phoenix editor and choose the f.23 bios. Extract the right OPROM nvidia VGA file from the f.23 bios with the method posted above( copy the oprom from the temp folder while phoenix editor is opened,etc and place it on ur desktop)
2) Close the phoenix editor and open nibitor to change the stock values to the OC values (only do this if you already know what values you can achieve with the f.23 bios- Otherwise, leave it unchanged and dont mess with nibitor for now).
3) open the phoenix editor and this time open the f.45 bios. Replace the OPROM file with the one from the f.23 which you previously extracted (step 1) to your desktop. Save the bios and replace 30CCF45.WPH file that is found in the f.45 bios folder. Run the showmsg1.exe file in this folder and you will begin the flashing process.
This has given me the latest bios (f.45 displays when you hit f10 as you boot) with all the fixes it has, along with a more Overclockable video bios than the default f.45 bios.
For those of you dv9700 owners who want to give the f.23 bios a chance (at your own risk), do that replacing method i just mentioned so that the only thing that changes in the bios is the video part (everything else will stay intact to ensure maximum compatability with your system). If you are successful at flashing the f.45 bios with the f.23 video bios inside of it, then test what new overclock settings you can now reach with the 169.04 drivers. The one that really seems to change is the memory- you can OC a lot more in the f.23 video bios from my experience. Then take these values, apply them to the OPROM file with nibitor and once again replace the rom file with the phoenix editor and reflash your system.
Everything is running great over here and i am able to have the modded f.45 bios with 585 core / 1370 shader/ and 552 memory as default settings on the latest 174.60 drivers thanks to the f.23 VBIOS that i stuck inside of the f.45 version. These settings will not have to be changed ever again with software, but do make sure they are stable before you flash your bios.
Hope you guys have a similar experience.
UPDATE***- WHAT TO DO IF YOU SCREW THINGS UP AND BOOT INTO NOTHING BUT A BLACK SCREEN
- A member of the forum accidentally misfollowed a step and found himself in a situation where his display would only show black. Luckily, he was able to find a way to fix it and has shared it with us in case some of you are experiencing the same problems.
Originally Posted by mhp32
DISCLAIMER
This worked for me and It might not work for you so BE CAREFULL
as bios problems are various..
Here we go:
http://www.mediafire.com/?3ccb9m0kv0m
be sure you replace the disk bios file with your laptop most current bios file. (phoenix only)
My HP was stript ready to ship: no HD - also no battery
Held Win+B key
plug in AC adaptor
Powered on, it did some beeping
then I saw the light access of my flash drive, when the light stop I released win+b, it did some beeping then the cpu fan quick in (I knew then I was in good shape because it's the sound it make when the bios is flashing) then it stop and more beeping for 30 secs then it powered itself off .. done!
rebooted and I saw my bios.. felt good..
Hope you guys keep this files handy who knows..
UPDATE***- The F.51 BIOS recently released works as well as the others spoken of in this guide.
A Guide to BIOS Overclocking HP Laptops with an 8600gs/8400gs using drivers ABOVE 169.04
