Think i've just broken my 6800GT

[Raider]

Was just rummaging around in my PC to look at which parts to silence, and the graphics card was clearly the loudest (a Leadtek 6800GT AGP). So I thought I'd turn the PC off, remove the card, then turn on the PC and see how quiet it would be without the card.

There seemed to be a catch holding the card in place (I hadn't spotted it initially), and I gave it a bit of a tug (not that hard) and then realised I had to release the catch. Having tested the PC without the card I replaced it and booted up the PC.

On the boot-up screen there are strange coloured patterns overlayed in places, and some of the text is jumbled up, which is odd. If I carry on then Windows produces a black screen.. nothing..
In safe mode it boots up, but again, strange coloured patterns on the screen.
I'm guessing i've either damaged the card, or damaged the AGP slot on my mobo. This weekend i'll be able to test a 2nd AGP card in my PC, and test my card in another PC.. but till then i'm on the laptop.

So does this sound like a busted card?

 

[Jack Bauer]

Sounds like it to me. funny colours at boot aint good as the its down to the motherboard or the graphics card

 

[Raider]

Sounds like it to me. funny colours at boot aint good as the its down to the motherboard or the graphics card

Yeah, as I said i should be able to test the mobo / gpu this weekend.

If it is busted, then what can I get to replace it? Wouldn't want to spend any more than £250. My primary use at the moment is outputting to my HDTV, so a card that can cope well with HDTV would be nice.. maybe a 7900GT as the ads seem to harp on about its HDTV decoding.

 

[Zephyrus]

If it is busted, then what can I get to replace it?

If it were me i'd go for an x1800xt or x1900xt.

 

[Jack Bauer]

dont think they will release a 7900 GT on AGP. Have a look at the 7800 GS. I would have thought they would do HDTV, I had a 7800 GT ( PCI-E ) and that supported it.

 

[Raider]

I'll probably buy a cheap PCI-E express mobo to go with a new PCI-E gpu.

 

[Raider]

Well I thought i'd boot up the PC this morning and see what happened. For the first 2 minutes everything looked perfect, then a few odd colour patterns (sort of like a mesh) started to appear on the desktop.. then the whole screen started to flash on and off..

I'm guessing it's probably not the motherboard if it all worked initially. Maybe the problem only starts when the graphics card chip heats up?? I can't see how I could have done this sort of physical damage to any of the chips

 

[ninjapilot]

i take it that the fan is working ok?
and also is the connection clean? i have had similar to this but there was some dust when i wiped the connection that slots into the board. might be worth a go.

Ninja

 

[Raider]

i take it that the fan is working ok?
and also is the connection clean? i have had similar to this but there was some dust when i wiped the connection that slots into the board. might be worth a go.

Ninja

Yeah the fan is still on full blast. I'll try cleaning the connection tonight, fingers crossed!

 

[ninjapilot]

Yeah the fan is still on full blast. I'll try cleaning the connection tonight, fingers crossed!

if that dosn't work then i reckon it will be th AGP slot thats damaged, good luck and let us know what it was.

Ninja

 

[Zefan]

Why not simply stop the graphics card with your finger insted of wrenching it out I stick my fingers in my fans all day.

 

[Raider]

Why not simply stop the graphics card with your finger insted of wrenching it out I stick my fingers in my fans all day.

It had a protective grill type thing over it, so tricky to stop it!

If it's the mobo that's bust then that would be better than the graphics card being bust! I could buy a 2nd hand 939 AGP board that way

 

[Locky]

Why not simply stop the graphics card with your finger insted of wrenching it out I stick my fingers in my fans all day.

thats not really a good thing to do, as your building a power surge in the PSU

 

[Raider]

Ok testing time!

Just tried my card in my Dad's PC (identical mobo btw), and the same problem appeared straight away. Then tried his Geforce 4 in my PC and it works perfectly.

So it looks like it's indeed the card that's knackered.. is it worth taking the heatsink and fan off to check that it's seated correctly?

 

[Toytown]

You could try, but from what your seeing on screen i would say that the memory on the card is borxed. If i were to hazard a guess it could have been killed by static electricity as you were handling the card...........did you use an antistatic strip or ground yourself correctly before pulling it out?

 

[Raider]

You could try, but from what your seeing on screen i would say that the memory on the card is borxed. If i were to hazard a guess it could have been killed by static electricity as you were handling the card...........did you use an antistatic strip or ground yourself correctly before pulling it out?

I've never worn anti-static stuff for the 10 years that i've built PCs, have I finally got my comeuppance?

 

[chopchop]

I've never worn anti-static stuff for the 10 years that i've built PCs, have I finally got my comeuppance?

you would know if you shocked the card, a bolt of lightening would shoot out of your fingers.

 

[Steves_pc]

I've never worn anti-static stuff for the 10 years that i've built PCs, have I finally got my comeuppance?

Same here but nearly 20yrs! and does kinda sound like you were rather unlucky or the card was ready to quit anyhow.

Mind you good excuse for an upgrade

 

[HangTime]

So it looks like it's indeed the card that's knackered.. is it worth taking the heatsink and fan off to check that it's seated correctly?

Nothing to lose, unless the card is still under warranty in which case you might be better off just RMAing it.

 

[Raider]

I bought the card around 18 months ago.. so no point RMAing I think!

I reseated the heatsink with Artic Silver.. no luck.. same problem.
Oh well new graphics time! 7900GT me think!