Can I Save a Failing Graphics Card.

Gerb68

My HD 2900 XT seems to be failing. When I insert it into my system it works OK but as soon as I install any ATi Drivers it has trouble restarting. It restarts then with intermittant lines on screen when it runs POST or any other display relating to the motherboardand ultimately it ends in a blue screen.
Could this be just a Driver issue?
Is it bricked?
Can it be saved? I was hoping to get a bit longer out of it till the HD 5850 was widely available at a decent price. Any help appreciated.

marco_polo

Its oven time again* :cool:

* Disclaimer: Wait a while for better advice from posters who know what they are talking about first

marco_polo

On a more serious note does it work ok when using the default OS display drivers?

It is strange that it errors should occur at the POST screen only after installing ATI drivers as they would not have even loaded at that stage.

Gerb68

Brilliant, Thanx Marco Polo. Thats exactly the info I was looking for.

marco_polo

Gerb68 wrote: »

Brilliant, Thanx Marco Polo. Thats exactly the info I was looking for.

Wait, lets not be too hasty here, let that be plan Z for the moment.

lmimmfn

marco_polo wrote: »

On a more serious note does it work ok when using the default OS display drivers?

It is strange that it errors should occur at the POST screen only after installing ATI drivers as they would not have even loaded at that stage.

could be that it overheats and is still too hot at POST on restart.

Check the gpu cooler, clean it removing any dust, also make sure the case has decent airflow and isint covered with dust on the grills on the back.

marco_polo

lmimmfn wrote: »

could be that it overheats and is still too hot at POST on restart.

Check the gpu cooler, clean it removing any dust, also make sure the case has decent airflow and isint covered with dust on the grills on the back.

A few months ago I had problem with corrupted ATI drivers after switching back and forth between catalyst versions a few times. Had to do a complete OS re-install to get them back working properly (Was only within windows I had problems though).

If it wasn't dust, could driver problems be a potential cause of overheating though?

marco_polo

Gerb68 wrote: »

Brilliant, Thanx Marco Polo. Thats exactly the info I was looking for.

Please don't be preheating the oven as I type

lmimmfn

^lol gas mark 5

marco_polo wrote: »

A few months ago I had problem with corrupted ATI drivers after switching back and forth between catalyst versions a few times. Had to do a complete OS re-install to get them back working properly (Was only within windows I had problems though).

yeah i used to get the same with my old 7800gtx, purple tanks and stuff in battlefield 2 lol, but clean driver removal( uninstall, reboot in safe mode, regclean, remove .dll's, make sure they dont reappear, regclean again, reboot and install new drivers )

marco_polo wrote: »

If it wasn't dust, could driver problems be a potential cause of overheating though?

Only if they had fan control problems( as some drivers have had in the past ) coupled with not running in 2d power saver mode in windows, but even at that they would still take a while to overheat the card.

Id nearly suggest taking the PC into the coldest room in the house, leaving it for an hour, fire it up and see if it lasts any longer, if anything it would be a quick way to determine if it just needs a new gpu cooler.

Might be good also to make sure the fan is even spinning, or it might just need a reseat.

Of course after all that it could be duff memory( i had to underclock my old 8800GT's memory even from brand new or it would BSOD ) or its just fubar.

Leman_Russ

marco_polo wrote: »

Please don't be preheating the oven as I type

Hey, it worked last time (to my great surprise, I honestly did not think it would), and if its dying he doesn't have much to loose. It either gets fixed (yay) or he had to buy a new GPU anyway :pac:

Anti

Heat that Bitch up and pop the card in.

marco_polo

Leman_Russ wrote: »

Hey, it worked last time (to my great surprise, I honestly did not think it would), and if its dying he doesn't have much to loose. It either gets fixed (yay) or he had to buy a new GPU anyway :pac:

Or if it is just dirt and dust at least it will fall off when he is stripping down the card.

Gerb68

I had this problem previously with Vista on an Asus P5 DH Deluxe board. Since then I have upgraded my system to i7 with an Asus P6T Duluxe v2 board, 6 Gb of DDR3 and a fresh install of Win 7 64 bit. After the upgrade the problem still persisted. Do I now believed it wasn't a Hardware compatibility issue. There also wasn't any old drivers on the system as it was a fresh install. I took the heatsink and fan off cleaned it and reapplyed some Thermal paste but the problem continued. I was convinced it was fubared.

Now for some great news.
I tried the oven trick and what do ya know. Its running perfectly (for now anyway). I am amazed and extremely happy. Thanx to all that replied and again thanx to marco_polo for pointing me in that direction.

marco_polo

Gerb68 wrote: »

I had this problem previously with Vista on an Asus P5 DH Deluxe board. Since then I have upgraded my system to i7 with an Asus P6T Duluxe v2 board, 6 Gb of DDR3 and a fresh install of Win 7 64 bit. After the upgrade the problem still persisted. Do I now believed it wasn't a Hardware compatibility issue. There also wasn't any old drivers on the system as it was a fresh install. I took of the heatsink and fan off cleaned it and reapplyed some Thermal paste but the problem continued. I was convinced it was fubared.

Now for some great news.
I tried the oven trick and what do ya know. Its running perfectly (for now anyway). I am amazed and extremely happy. Thanx to all that replied and again thanx to marco_polo for pointing me in that direction.

/Takes a bow.

* And breathes a sigh of relief

Leman_Russ

marco_polo wrote: »

/Takes a bow.

* And breathes a sigh of relief

Take a bow and then lrn2gievCredit. :pac:

So yeah, that's 2 for 2 on the oven trick. Looks like it really works lol

marco_polo

Leman_Russ wrote: »

Take a bow and then lrn2gievCredit. :pac:

So yeah, that's 2 for 2 on the oven trick. Looks like it really works lol

The bow was in your direction

lmimmfn

rhe oven trick has only been reputed to work in the past with the 8800GTX due to components not being seated properly on the gpu board, heating expands the sockets allowing everything to fall back into place( and later contract at room temp guaranteeing the board is tight, hmmm, i dunno if it will last, id flog it asap if its working lol

Gerb68

lmimmfn wrote: »

hmmm, i dunno if it will last, id flog it asap if its working lol

If I get a couple of months out of it, that'll be Ok. As I said just till the 5850 becomes readily available at a decent price.