ATI FireGL 7200 back screen on boot

Dell Precision workstations with this card date back to 2006/7. However many may still be in use (and we have 30 of them).

On several occasions we have connected a PC to a different monitor (usually 1920x1200 24" eg Dell, Samsung) and had no BIOS display on startup. We have thrown several of these cards away and replaced them. Recently, however, I found a fix. This is a copy of my internal knowledgebase note:

Early ATI FireGL 7200 cards have a bug and may not produce any display at all when connected to a high res monitor using DVI.

You don't need to scrap the card!

Short term fix is to use a low res monitor or, not tested but assumed to work, a DVI\VGA Adapter and connect to the monitor using VGA.

Permanent fix is to use the former solution so you can see what you are doing and a bootable USB stick with the utility found here:

Flashing Details

Once this is done, you will be able to use DVI to any monitor.

I hope this helps someone else out

Steve

CZWG Architects LLP

London