I need help! Busted my PC!

[Cali]

Get the 6970 if you can, you should notice a big difference from your old card.

[PoleCat]

Video card failure indeed.

 

Out

[159th_Viper]

Could just be dust under one of the memory banks.

 

Ermm......Nope :D

[hog_driver111th]

Ermm......Nope :D

 

I did mention that I have no clue about these things, didn't I?:music_whistling: "I'm a pilot, not a mechanic Damnit!" hehe. I do wonder what could have happened to it.

[cichlidfan]

I do wonder what could have happened to it.

 

It could have been a lot of things from static electricity to simple component failure.

 

Once, after returning from a trip, I powered up one of my machines only to discover that the motherboard was dead. It worked when I shut it down and did not work when I turned it back on. Unless my dog did something while I was gone...who knows.

[159th_Viper]

.....I do wonder what could have happened to it.

 

If it's any consolation I'm still wondering what happened to mine.......:music_whistling: :D

 

Jest aside, I had it happen to a 4870x2. Might just be age? Who knows. Sometimes I swear appliances and such have manufacturer-induced built-in self-destruct mechanisms just to keep the market tickin' over.

[WildBillKelsoe]

send your pc to a friend who regularly cleans and maintains instead of doing it yourself and frying the CPU or GPU. I had the AGP variant of your card on my older system by gigs-a-byte, but ultimately sold it out...

 

I'd recommend professional handling of your system from this point onwards. I concur that GPU issue.

 

Keep us posted, but for love of God, don't boot it except if Arctic Silver 5 is oozing out that joint... And better, send it to a pro.

[cichlidfan]

... don't boot it except if Arctic Silver 5 is oozing out that joint...

 

Do yourself a favor. Please, don't follow your own advice if you ever build a PC.

[WildBillKelsoe]

Do yourself a favor. Please, don't follow your own advice if you ever build a PC.

 

That was a metaphorical representation. I want to say, make sure new compound under the hood. Thats ALL.

[Corrigan]

And better, send it to a pro.

 

I strongly disagree. It's not difficult. Buy an anti-ESD wrist strap for like 2 euros, don't remove any components if you don't have to and don't use a vacuum cleaner (use canned air). That's basically it.

Sending your pc off to a professional to get it dusted is downright stupid.

[Bolt-1]

Unless my dog did something while I was gone...who knows.

And here's the video of it.

 

[cichlidfan]

And here's the video of it.

 

 

She is 12 years old...I think I am safe in that area. :lol:

[Slayer]

Every ATI (4 to be exact) card I've ever owned ends up with bad VRAM causing same issue as the OP - color bands....I quit using ATI in my gaming rigs.

[PoleCat]

The only cards I have ever had fail on me were Nvidia. I think it really doesn't matter AMD or Nvidia, video cards and or VRAM can just fail for any number of reasons including static discharge, overheating, borderline components etc. I always purchase good quality brand name Video cards with long warranties . For Nvidia cards EVGA really stands behind their cards with a good warranty. Not sure about AMD cards. I do own a Saphire but I think the warranty is only a year on these cards. Not sure if there is an AMD card manufacturere that offers longer ones or not. I like at least 3 yrs.

 

 

Out

Edited August 16, 2012 by PoleCat

[EtherealN]

Guys, nVidia vs AMD/ATi is almost completely irrelevant for hardware failure ratio. The reason for this is simple: the companies in question make the GPU. There's a tonne of other components on the cards you purchase, and the vendor in question is what is relevant there - and from which of their product lines you purchased. nVidia/AMD can possibly be considered at faultg if the card(s) in question are using the reference design, but even then it's still the vendor that is selecting the actual components to put onto the card. AMD/nVidia just supplied the GPU.

 

If your motherboard fails, do you blame AMD/Intel based on which processor sits in the socket? (Assuming, ofc, that it's not a chipset fault.)

 

Oh, and PoleCat, just because I'm anal: there's no such thing as "ATi", haven't been for years. They are fully merged into AMD.

[cichlidfan]

"Everything works until it breaks." -me

[Layzie]

We figured it out. It was his GPU. We dont know what happened to to cause it to fail but he plugged his VGA directly into his MB and it worked. I had him clean the pins on the GPU but no joy. This is why I stay away from ATI lol

[pacotito]

Guys, nVidia vs AMD/ATi is almost completely irrelevant for hardware failure ratio. The reason for this is simple: the companies in question make the GPU. There's a tonne of other components on the cards you purchase, and the vendor in question is what is relevant there - and from which of their product lines you purchased. nVidia/AMD can possibly be considered at faultg if the card(s) in question are using the reference design, but even then it's still the vendor that is selecting the actual components to put onto the card. AMD/nVidia just supplied the GPU.

 

If your motherboard fails, do you blame AMD/Intel based on which processor sits in the socket? (Assuming, ofc, that it's not a chipset fault.)

 

Oh, and PoleCat, just because I'm anal: there's no such thing as "ATi", haven't been for years. They are fully merged into AMD.

 

Like he said. I've owned both ati now amd and nvidia since the days of voodoo 2 and buying from a company that offers a good warranty I have never had a failure before it was time to upgrade. I would be leaning to operator error in this case. Considering there was no problem until he took his machine apart to clean.

[PeterP]

"Everything works until it breaks." -me

 

:)There is a second variant that highly relates and should also be mentioned:

 

"Everything works until I break it" - me

 

 

I've checked everything. It's still doing it.

 

EDIT: big update... Before, after rechecking the graphics card, it was still doing it. This time, before putting the graphics card back in, I decided to plug my monitor into the onboard VGA port, and it works... So somehow something happened to my graphics card...

 

 

Gosh! :D

 

I'm very happy that you made this troubleshooting/debugging before you followed my advise to renew the thermal paste! :)

[PoleCat]

Oh, and PoleCat, just because I'm anal: there's no such thing as "ATi", haven't been for years. They are fully merged into AMD.

 

It's a difference in name only but I stand corrected. I will try to remember that distinction in the future. It's just that I have been using the cards of both of these companies for a very long time. Corrected this in my previous post so it doesn't bug you. ;)

 

Out

Edited August 16, 2012 by PoleCat

[cichlidfan]

I'm very happy that you made this troubleshooting/debugging before you followed my advise to renew the thermal paste! :)

 

I would still seriously consider redoing the paste, if it were my hardware. At minimum, I would keep a close eye on CPU temps for a bit.

[hog_driver111th]

I would still seriously consider redoing the paste, if it were my hardware. At minimum, I would keep a close eye on CPU temps for a bit.

 

Checked the temps at current state. All looks normal.

[PeterP]

BTW:

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :beer::yay:

[hog_driver111th]

Thanks Peter! Btw, I've been staring at graphics cards online all day. I'd like to stick to ati, but I don't have much money to use. The ATI HD6970 and above is out of my reach (well, according to the Mrs.)

The 6950 might be doable, but what if I dropped down a level to the 5770? I'm sure it would do better than the 4650 I have (had), and they go for pretty cheap... But I'm not sure. Stores are closed now, I have to get up at 3am for work, and I might be ble to stop in the pc store tomorrow to see what they have available.

[Slayer]

Guys, nVidia vs AMD/ATi is almost completely irrelevant for hardware failure ratio. The reason for this is simple: the companies in question make the GPU. There's a tonne of other components on the cards you purchase, and the vendor in question is what is relevant there - and from which of their product lines you purchased. nVidia/AMD can possibly be considered at faultg if the card(s) in question are using the reference design, but even then it's still the vendor that is selecting the actual components to put onto the card. AMD/nVidia just supplied the GPU.

 

If your motherboard fails, do you blame AMD/Intel based on which processor sits in the socket? (Assuming, ofc, that it's not a chipset fault.)

 

Oh, and PoleCat, just because I'm anal: there's no such thing as "ATi", haven't been for years. They are fully merged into AMD.

 

Except for 1 thing: ATI/AMD make and sell their own cards, they were branded ATI as of the 5000 series and then switched to the AMD brand name 6000 series and beyond. Nvidia doesn't sell to consumers directly they only make workstation cards for OEM .

 

The specific cards I had were ATI branded, so surely they could be faulted because they made the GPU, packaged it on the card and put their name on it. At the time I quit using ATI they had very poor warranty, they would lie and say it was a 2 year warranty but after the card fails after a year they say return it to where you purchased it....of course NewEgg says nada...it's MFR warranty send it back to ATI and round and round we go.

 

Over a comparable timeframe of using Nvidia based products I've lost 1 card- an 8800GTX that died after like 4 years of daily use.

 

I've built 2 PC's for friends using AMD based cards from Sapphire because money was an issue neither of these has had an issue.

 

That's my personal experience.