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NVFLASH

NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility

Mark Stephen Krueger

2006-11-14

4

Table of Contents

Introduction              1

Supported Operating Systems              1

General Usage              2

Warning              2

Primary Commands              3

<update>              4

--save              7

--compare              9

--version              11

--list              13

--display              14

--check              16

--protectionon              18

--protectionoff              19

--straps              20

--guid              22

--guidsource              24

--tv              26

Related Utilities              29

Mac OS GUI Versions              29

Win32 GUI Versions              29

NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility              29

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Page 16

Introduction

The NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (NVFLASH) is used to update the firmware stored in the EEPROM of an NVIDIA display adapter.  It can also be used to perform other tasks on the adapter such as saving a copy of the current firmware image to a file, displaying the version of the firmware image, or determining the EEPROM part present on a display adapter.

Supported Operating Systems

NVFLASH is currently available for DOS, Win32 platforms, Mac OS X, and EFI.  The Mac OS X version requires that a NVIDIA driver be running on any cards that will be accessed by the utility.  The Win32 version includes its own kernel mode driver to allow it to access the hardware.

General Usage

NVFLASH has a set of primary commands that specify what operation it should perform.  In addition there are options that can be specified with each of these commands to control how these commands operate.

NVFLASH is a command line utility that can be run stand alone from the command prompt, run from batch files, or spawned from other programs.

Warning

There is a real danger of a display adapter becoming unbootable and thus preventing the entire system from booting if the update process is interrupted due to a software fault, power failure, the operator manually resetting the computer (for example via a reset switch), or the operator updating an adapter with the wrong firmware image.  For this reason, care should be taken when using this utility.

Primary Commands

This section describes the main commands that are available with NVFLASH. Each command has options available to use with it, but only one primary command can be used at a time.

Most commands and options have both a long (English readable) version and a short version.  The long version is invoked by prefixing with a double dash (“--“).  The short version can be used with a single dash (“-“).

Note that for both long and short versions of command and options, case is significant.  The operator can not type “--Version” for example, it must be “--version”.

<update>

The update command is the default command if no other primary command is specified.  The update command installs the specified firmware image or images onto one or more display adapters.  By default, the update command scans the system to update all display adapters that match the specified firmware image or images.

Usage

nvflash [ <options> ] <filename>

<filename> filename of firmware image or firmware image bundle

Options

Remarks

The override options (--overridesub, --overridetype) can only be used when there is a single display adapter to be updated with a single firmware image.  A single display adapter can be specified with the “--index” option.  If there is only one NVIDIA display adapter in the system, then the use of “--index” is not needed.  A single firmware image is specified by either just supplying the filename of a single firmware image (which will have a *.ROM extension) or by using the “--fwindex” option when a firmware bundle is specified (which will have a *.NVR extension).

It is important that the update process not be interrupted due to power failure or by a forced reset.  If an error occurs during the flash process, it is advisable not to reboot the computer until the problem can be determined.  The card may be unable to be restarted if a failed update has occurred (and thus the system as a whole may not reboot).

If the original firmware image contains an IEEE 1394 GUID, the update command will preserve it and NOT use the GUID of the new image.

Example

nvflash --index=3 --fwindex=2 nv17.nvr

nvflash p77.rom

nvflash --index=ask --fwindex=ask nv28.nvr

--save

The save command saves the current firmware image of a display adapter to a file.  This file can be used to restore the firmware later if a different image is uploaded.

Usage

nvflash [ <options> ] --save <filename>

<filename> filename to save the firmware image to

Options

Remarks

The save command is mainly useful for backups of a firmware image and for diagnostic purposes...