Fubared Graphics card?

[Deadmanwalking]

Hi,

Right a few days ago my Sapphire rad 9800 pro 128 meg was running all fine and dandy. Till one day when booting up i noticed small squares (1cm roughly) all over the POST screens. They did not go even as windows loaded and when finally in windows the icons etc all had artifacts all over them.

So i tried to run a game, and nothing happened. So i tried another... same thing nothing.

I restarted to see if that would make any dif, but no same squares all over the screen. However when i go into the Bios screens all is fine. The squares are gone and all is perfect. Then after leaving the bios screens all seems perfect again no artifacts and windows looks good. But on trying to run anything vageuly GFX intensive, any game it screws up again and back to square one.

I am stumped, i have tried reseating the card, running with case off(Overheating) new drivers the works. As i write this im on the intergrated GFX (Shuttle). Please help, there is no way in hell i can afford even a basic Graphics card for a long while so this is it

Any help much much appreciated

 

[Xavier]

Ok, so to start with, have you updated your bios or anything of that nature recently?

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Nothing, i haven't changed a thing.

 

[Quige]

Dare I ask .... is it still under warranty?

Do you think it's a power thing? does it make any difference if you disconnect the cd/cd-rw/dvd/etc./any other not essential things?

 

[old.user4556]

some basic stupid questions i wanna get out the way before I go any further(forgive me):

It is a genuine 9800 pro, and not a "9800 flashed to a pro"?

It's not overclocked at all (or hasn't been)?

(im currently thinking a power thing)

G

 

[Deadmanwalking]

No, makes no dif disconnecting things. And as it worked before it would be strange.

Warrenty im not sure about... would have to be direct as the place i got it from is now dead

 

[Deadmanwalking]

some basic stupid questions i wanna get out the way before I go any further(forgive me):

It is a genuine 9800 pro, and not a "9800 flashed to a pro"?

It's not overclocked at all (or hasn't been)?

(im currently thinking a power thing)

G

I feel insulted

Me overclock? HAH or "Flash it up to a pro"

No neither. And like i said above, power thing would be strange.

 

[old.user4556]

I feel insulted

Me overclock? HAH or "Flash it up to a pro"

No neither. And like i said above, power thing would be strange.

I did say forgive me - you have to start with the obvious basics in troubleshooting.

This may sound daft, but when the case side is off, loosen the screw for the 9800 Pro and try pushing it from side to side to see if the graphics corruption comes and goes.

A mate of mine was sent a dodgy 9800 SE from overclockers that had the same corruption as you describe. I found that when "bent" or pushed the card to one side in the AGP slot the corruption went away. Under a magnifying lens, it was clear that the power connector hadn't been soldered properly at manufacturer stage. I'm not saying this is your problem, but i'm interested to see if it's perhaps similar in some way or some sort of power problem.

G

 

[Xavier]

The symptoms are typical of a memory problem, which 9800 is it, and does it have ramsinks? Or have you added any memory cooling?

 

[Deadmanwalking]

The symptoms are typical of a memory problem, which 9800 is it, and does it have ramsinks? Or have you added any memory cooling?

It's a very early edition of a rad 9800. No ramsinks i don't think.

And no i not added any extra cooling or even touched it in anyway.

No wiggling makes no dif.

 

[old.user4556]

No wiggling makes no dif.

Ok, just wanted to clear that out.

You need to isolate the card as the source of the problem. Have you tried the card in someone else's PC to confirm that it's deffo the card?

I'll be honest and say that I'm really not sure.

/me googles for any info

G

 

[old.user4556]

I've found some info here regarding corrupt graphics with radeon chipsets and it doesn't look promising:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread/t-8105.html

You might want to try disabling fast writes? I'm not sure on the success of this, but a hardware guru friend of mine suggests it can be problematic (it's also suggested on that thread).

Edit: not to put an even bigger damper on things, but there is a 25+ page thread on Sapphire's website regarding corrupt graphics across their Radeon range. http://www.sapphiretech.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20

G

 

[Xavier]

Fast writes are generally controlled from within the OS, though they can be toggled in the bios too, if he's not been into the bios to specifically enable/disable them then I can't see why he'd be getting corruption due to FW before the OS has even loaded.

Xav

 

[old.user4556]

I think with a problem this vague, anything is worth a shot.

G

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Fast writes off made no dif im afriad

But when i went into bios to turn it off and the saved/exited etc it booted windows as normal with no Graphics distortion?!

However games still won't go and i fear if i restart again it will go back to artifacts.



Edit: I just restarted and it's back to artifacts etc..... i feel like crying.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Update: It has buggered up again.

Have requested an RMA number today. i had got it from Ebuyer not the overclockingstore in the end

Fingers crossed it all gets sorted.