Alexrey Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 As the title says, I think my graphics card just broke. I heard a kind of "pop" sound and then my PC shut down. When I turned it back on again everything ran fine but the screen stayed on standby (orange light). Does anyone by any chance know what Sapphire's warranty is for their HD 4850 1GB card? If it's 3 years I'm in luck, if 2 then I'm outta luck. Any help would be appreciated, thanks guys. Cheers, Alexrey
Depth Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 A "pop" sound? Sure its not your PSU? What happens if you put the screen on the motherboard output? [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Alexrey Posted June 26, 2011 Author Posted June 26, 2011 (edited) Unfortunately my motherboard doesn't have its own output. Surely if my PSU had fried my computer would not have been able to start up at all? EDIT: I just put an old 7600GT into the slot and it now works, so does that mean that it was my gfx card that blew? Edited June 26, 2011 by Alexrey
Pilotasso Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 By your PC's symptoms I would say too the GFX fried. Might be a good time to upgrade if you cant find that purchase bill for an exchange. Most vendors give 2 year warranty check on that. .
Alexrey Posted June 26, 2011 Author Posted June 26, 2011 Yeah I asked my brother and he said that it was a 2 year warranty :(. The weird thing, though, is that after taking the 7600GT out and putting my HD4850 back in, I tried starting my PC up once again. This time the screen came on and everything worked fine, but it couldn't load windows. It got to the stage just before the "loading windows" screen appeared, but instead of having that screen, it just had a black screen with a blinking white cursor.
Pilotasso Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 hmm motherboard capacitor blown? how old is it? Sometimes you can spot a blown capacitor as it shows broken but sometimes itll stay in one piece. .
Alexrey Posted June 26, 2011 Author Posted June 26, 2011 It's just over 2.5 years old. I'll check for a blown capacitor tomorrow morning, thanks. So this definitely rules the graphics card out? Its still fine? I really don't want my CPU or GPU to blow since they cost the most, anything else I can deal with :P.
Pilotasso Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 I dont think we can rule anything. But if something poped inside the case and the PC just wont finish start with monitor working I doubt it was the GFX, chances are if it did it would usually kill the card immediately. I had capacitors blow up on the motherboard before and the thing still ran. Not great bit it ran. .
Depth Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 (edited) Can you post your pc specs? If it works fine with the 7600 card, download this program, undo any overclock and run the CPU test for an hour then the GPU test. If it fails with the 7600 card then that rules out the 4800 card. If it runs fine, that "might" mean it's the 4800 card but you'd have to tax the PSU to rule that one out as well. (Don't use the OCCT power supply test!) Do you use on-board sound or do you have a soundcard installed? If you have a soundcard, does it have an amplifier? That may very well make a popping sound. Surely if my PSU had fried my computer would not have been able to start up at all? PSU faults are... undpredictable. It could work well at low wattage but not be able to deliver what the hardware needs or create harmonics in the current. Edited June 26, 2011 by Depth [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Alexrey Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 I don't think that test will work because I still can't get into Windows even with the 7600GT in the GFX slot. I get the same black screen with a blinking cursor as well. My system specs are as follows: GPU: Sapphire HD4850 1GB CPU: Core 2 Duo E8500 RAM: 4GB DDR II 800MHz PSU: I can't remember what model it was, but I remember that it was a Thermaltake that wasn't cheap. Motherboard: Also can't remember what it was but I do remember that it wasn't cheap as well. OS: Windows 7 64 bit Murphy's Law, just as I get Windows 7 64 bit and am able to play DCSW in all its glory, my PC dies, gotta love it.
Alexrey Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 I just checked my motherboard for blown capacitors and cannot find any. The sound that I heard when my PC "packed in" wasn't exactly a "pop" as I had said before. It was kind of subtle but just sounded like something not too great had just occurred. I remember at the time I was about to put some files into a new folder that I had created.
Depth Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 I don't think that test will work because I still can't get into Windows even with the 7600GT in the GFX slot. I get the same black screen with a blinking cursor as well. Most likely the motherboard, but just out of curiosity are you able to boot from something other than your windows 7 harddrive? Got any old hardware lying around or a second pc? [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Jinja Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 My gut reaction to your OPost was capacitor. I have ALOT of experience in this, let's just say on an industrial scale.. Go back and look at them all again. You're looking for even just the faintest bulging on the top of them. That's all it takes. Thk God for solid-state caps on current hardware. i7@3.5Ghz, ATI 5870, 16GB RAM, win7 64bit, TH2GO, Track-IR, 4screen pit, TM WArthog HOTAS
Alexrey Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 I sent it into the local computer shop since I was sick of trying to figure it out myself. They checked the PSU and said it was working fine, and I know that the GPU is fine, so it's either the CPU or motherboard, and I'm going for motherboard. I left it with them and they said they'd have an answer by tomorrow afternoon. And yeah, I believe that a capacitor did blow because there aren't many components that can make the popping-like sound I heard. I asked the guys about re-soldering on a new capacitor to the motherboard, while I was there, but they said that it's not that simple because a motherboard has 3 layers or something like that. Is this true (i.e. just soldering on a new capacitor will not fix the MB and I'll have to buy a new one)?
Jinja Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Well theres an anti corrosive fim applied for a start which makes soldering a bitch, and the heat/space tolerances are so fine as to make it extremely difficult. Id just give up and get anew mb.. i7@3.5Ghz, ATI 5870, 16GB RAM, win7 64bit, TH2GO, Track-IR, 4screen pit, TM WArthog HOTAS
Alexrey Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 Once they give me back a full diagnosis I guess it's time to find a similar MB to my P5Q (if the MB is in fact the problem), I really hope it isn't the CPU :(.
Pilotasso Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 CPU blow up its extremely rare. Usually you get alot of substantial hints theres something wrong with it before it blows up just like that. For example, frequent BSOD and unexpected slowdowns. You shouldn't even see anything on screen if the CPU had burned. By norm CPU's are much simpler and have tighter manufacturing tolerances than motherboards so chances are that the motherboard to be the culprit rather than the CPU. .
Alexrey Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 Do any of you guys have any suggestions for another motherboard that I could buy (not Asus because I'm highly pissed off with them at the moment), that is similar to my most-likely-dead Asus P5Q? This is the P5Q's full description: http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=81_226&products_id=26680. I heard that Gigabyte boards are pretty good.
Pyroflash Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 (edited) Get an ASUS board mate, they are the best in the business. IF you had to pick another manufacturer though, I would go for an MSI, or maybe a Gigabyte one. Though there isn't much of a selection around anymore for old equipment like this anyways, and I do recommend building a whole new system. Edited June 27, 2011 by Pyroflash If you aim for the sky, you will never hit the ground.
Pilotasso Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 MSI boards are meant for war. Really, you can kill someone and deflect bullets with them. They are also uglier and thats probably why they are a little less popular among enthusiasts. Having said that dont blame your board without the tech guys say their verdict. .
Pyroflash Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Yeah, MSI boards are good quality, but they lack some of the more enthusiast/overclocking features of ASUS boards. If you aim for the sky, you will never hit the ground.
Alexrey Posted June 28, 2011 Author Posted June 28, 2011 Boy am I glad, turned out to be a faulty RAM stick, sorry Asus... I feel kinda bad now.
Pilotasso Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 ouch how could I forget that? usually thats a common culprit righ there. .
Depth Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 Yeah, that was... I almost feel ashamed for not suggesting RAM, it did cross my mind several times but I dismissed it as too easy Anyway, glad your GFX card is still good, as with rest of your pc. As far as replacing components go, memory is by far the cheapest. Enjoy your new flashy sticks :beer: [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Alexrey Posted June 29, 2011 Author Posted June 29, 2011 I was thinking of getting another stick of DDR2 800MHz, but realised that that would be pointless since faster RAM is cheaper than slower older RAM. I'm just wondering if having 2GB of Kingston DDR2 800MHz RAM (which I currently have in my system), and then getting 2GB of the newer RAM (to replace my blown stick), for example DDR3 1333MHz, would cause any conflicts. As far as I know the only "conflict" would be that that 2GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM would be down-clocked to 800MHz due to my other 2GB stick.
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