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7900GTO - on the way out?

Raves

Raves

Raves

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Joined
2 Jul 2005
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343
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Canberra
I purchased a 7900 GTO from OcUK in October, and I has been performing wonderfully until the last 2 weeks.

Now at stock speeds I get little red dots on the desktop and then shortly after the system will hard lock. Once upon a reboot, I got beep codes indicating that the vid card was not functioning. After another reboot I was able to get back into windows, but the red dots persist.

Strangely, if I get into windows and start a game I can play without difficultly until I return to the desktop (either quitting the appilcation or alt-tabbing), where upon the red dots appear indicating the coming hard lock. Once in Company of Heroes I got a completely garbled screen during a game which required a reboot.

Temperatures are not an issue - they have been stable.

I have tried changing drivers from 91.47 to 93.xx and 92.91. All give me the same problem. I have tried a system restore as well - the symptoms persist.

I have not had a vid card go bad on me before, so I am looking for some advices:

Do you think my card is on the way out? Should I RMA? Do I RMA to OcUK or to MSI directly?

Thanks for your time.
 
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Mostly Company of Heroes and BF2. Maximum possible settings, 4X AA, 8X AF.

I have not had difficulty with these games or settings until recently.
 
More than enough for a 7900gto, deffo sounds like your card is on its way out if you have tried different drivers.

I would ask if it is possible to do a reinstall of windows or a temp reinstall on another drive? Just to take software out of the equation. :)
 
Yes a windows reinstall is something that I had been thinking about. You think its worth the time to see if that changes anything? Could a corrupted registry or system file cause these problems?

Also I just recalled, that once when I thought I had a hard lock I just left it, and then I got a nv driver error and XP went to 640x480 and told me to reboot. Then I got 'your system has recovered from a serious error...' I changed dirvers after that.

edit: who would I RMA to, OcUK or MSI? I have never had to do such a thing.
 
Contact OcUK, they will direct you correctly. :)

Depending on who handles it, it can take from a few days to a week or two.

Or 5 weeks if you have an XFX card (from my own rma exp.)
 
There is a known issue with many nVidia 7900GTs from many manufacturers. The problem being a faulty voltage regulator. You start off by having minor problems such as you describe, followed by large artifacts in some games. I have had a problem with 2 of them and have returned them and have had them replaced with nVidia 7950GTs. This has embarrased nVidia no end.
 
I reinstalled windows, and I noticed some 'fuzzy' text during the install (kinda like the early dx9 heat effects in far cry). Once I was reinstalled everything looked to be ok until I fired up Company of Heroes. I got about 5 minutes into the game when I noticed a missing texture on the allied mg team. I alt-tabbed to see if I could get the game to add the texture, and it worked but then the texture for the observation post went 'rainbow brite' on me. Then the system hardlocked. Upon reboot, the little red dots were waiting for me in the nv control panel.

I have taken the card out and I preparing it for RMA.
 
I sent the card in on Feb 9th, and I got the same card back today (Feb 13th) - shipping at my expense and they charged me £10 for testing.

Attached was a note saying that they tested the card for 1h on 3d06 and found no corruptions.

I was under the impression that I would be contacted before they sent it back, if testing failed - but no contact was made.

So now what? I'll take the card back home and try it in my system again, but I am sure that I will have the same problems all over again.

Does anybody have any advice has to how I should proceed? A direct RMA to MSI perhaps?
 
Raves said:
I sent the card in on Feb 9th, and I got the same card back today (Feb 13th) - shipping at my expense and they charged me £10 for testing.

Attached was a note saying that they tested the card for 1h on 3d06 and found no corruptions.

I was under the impression that I would be contacted before they sent it back, if testing failed - but no contact was made.

So now what? I'll take the card back home and try it in my system again, but I am sure that I will have the same problems all over again.

Does anybody have any advice has to how I should proceed? A direct RMA to MSI perhaps?
Click to expand...

I stopped buying components for a while from OC cos of a problem with a nec 2500a dvdr which didn't read dvds properly. They sent me back another that I suspected it was the same and still having the same problem so I was ****** off for spending money in delivery and still with the same problem. I believe the RMA process in OC is not the best around the net :o (at least my experience)

BTW MSI will tell you to use your supplier (I already asked them to replace my 7900GTO)

My 7900GTO doesn't give me any visible artifacts playing Oblivion, FEAR, 3DMark05/06, Quake, Pray etc, only sometimes in some maps in BF2 (I recorded and I will include it in my RMA)
 
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Raves said:
Ah, so recordings or screenshots can be included with your RMA?

That is a useful bit of info.
Click to expand...

I don't know but I will after your experience just in case it is tested with only 3dMark05/06

At the end of the day is just a single cd, nothing expensive at all

If I was you I would try you 7900GTO in another pc and good luck with MSI, I hope they accept your RMA
 
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In the end, the card was returned to me and I was told there was nothing wrong with it. That kinda ****** me off because I knew there was something wrong with the card....

Last week it started displaying a corrupted screen even at the BIOS level, so I figured they can't send it back to me now! Its on RMA again, and a replacement /repair is supposed to be done on it.

From other threads I see that this can take upwards of a month. I hope I it goes through fast, and I wonder what card I will get back seeing as the 7900GTOs were quite ephemeral.
 
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