(mutter) Hardware Follies: my desktop machine's graphics card is unwell

[dianeduane]

Very unwell. And apparently getting more so. I’m starting to work my way through all the usual stages to make sure of where the problem is — replacing the monitor driver, installing new display drivers for the card (it’s a Radeon 9800), running diagnostics — but at the moment, here’s what I’ve got.

 

…Not much to say but frak. And this is the worst possible timing for this, as the household budget is not going to allow me to do anything about this for days and days yet.

…If I have any fans at Radeon who feel inclined to send me some old 9800 that’s lying around (it would be something of a legacy card these days), this would be the moment.

…Gaaaaaaaaah.

Tags: whinge, complain, hardware, malfunction, Radeon, 9800, graphics+card, display, fooey, why+right+this+minute,+I+ask+you

Comments

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Obvious questions
- have you tried another monitor?
- have you tried disconnecting the cable and reconnecting it?
- is the card seated firmly in its socket?

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Checking that now. :)

ETA: The cable is tight. The card is tight (it's an AGP: not too easy to jostle those out of place, fortunately.)

ETAx2: Peter brought his monitor downstairs and we tested the machine with that and his cable. Same result. It's the card.

[trialia]

Ack! Not fun... Sorry I can't help.

[sekari.livejournal.com]

I happen to have a spare 9800 AGP sitting here. if you want it I'll gladly send it to you.

[estara.livejournal.com]

sort of seconded: I've got an AGP Radeon 9500 Pro which got modded into a 9700 (used). Just in case some problem comes up with sekari's offer ;-)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for that! :)

As I said to sekari, let me finish testing this one first to make sure the problem's where I think it is. If this turns out to be secondary to a slightly-out-of-kilter cable, I'm going to laugh myself silly.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Aww, see that, the world is full of angels! Thank you!

But let me finish poking at it first -- checking the connections (as Marcus says) and dealing with the drivers. Also I should test it with Peter's monitor, which is the twin of mine. After that, if there's still trouble, you're on. :)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

So... I've done all the testing I can for the moment, and it looks like the card's the problem (monitor and cable have been ruled out). Drop me a note? (mailto:diane.duane@gmail.com)

[feorag.livejournal.com]

marypcb says it's probably the cable.

[juliekarasik.livejournal.com]

Damm. I had a 9600 card and it died in exactly the same way about a year ago.

[raishi-fox.livejournal.com]

I had a 9800 Pro a while back that went out exactly the same way. I could be the cable, but considering how familiar that screen looks, I'd say there's a good chance it's the card like it was with mine.

I also had a spare 9800 sitting around until just last week, when I sent it out to a friend who didn't even end up being able to use it. =/

[posicat.livejournal.com]

Looks like a memory issue, maybe an overheat situation, or under-power. First thing I'd do is pull the card, and blow any and all dust out of the heat-sync. Then make sure the card-edge connector is clean. Put it back in, and see if it's better.

Does it look like that when it's booting? Or just once it's in Windows? If it's just in windows, try re-installing the driver, and if you've done any over-clocking on the card, make sure it's back to default speeds.

Keep us posted with what you find out, I suspect amongst your fans are quite a few hardware geeks :)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Well, I dusted well inside just now. Doesn't seem to have made a difference.

Yes, it looks that way when booting. (It was misbehavior in these lower graphic modes that got my attention first.) Letters on the boot-up screens are "chipped". Then the Windows herald comes up and is all dotted & splotched with low-graphics artifact. Gah.

[posicat.livejournal.com]

There were, a while back, a lot of electronics that suffered from bad capacitors, take a look at the board, if the capacitors are bulging or leaking, you've got that problem too.

Someone stole the formula for the electrolytes in the capacitors for another company, unfortunately he didn't get the whole formula, and what he did get breaks down and fails after a few years.

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I had to hacksaw apart the lump in a cable power supply of my pvr and found that the output electrolytic capacitors had failed.

If it is a capacitor problem, then I would probably be able to replace them, if all else had failed. I say probably because although I have some surface mount tools I don't have hot air - that is a bit outside my budget.

[jerel.livejournal.com]

Remember, it's not a bug, it's a feature. :)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

I keep telling myself that. :)

[wetdryvac.livejournal.com]

*chuckles*

A feature resulting in screen decorations, just in time for the holidays.

Glad some folks have the part you need. That feature would make my think-bag melt.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

I'll take it as read that right now you need another Radeon 9800 or nearest equivalent. Don't have one, though I'm glad some other readers do. I can, however, let you have a completely different AGP card as an ZOMGWTF emergency replacement. Let me know if you're interested and I'll fire the box up and get the details.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Well, curiosity as much as anything else, since I'm beginning to think it would be smart to have a compatible spare card around. :) What have you got? The AGP slot in this motherboard is 4X / 1.5v (keyed on the right: check the diagram here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port#Compatibility))

[tropism.livejournal.com]

My monitor did something like that when playing 3d accellerated games; the problem was that the cooling fan on the video card had crapped out and the proc was overheating. This may or may not be what's wrong with your comp, but I'd bet that the problem is something in the video card.

Lexicon ruling in!

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

The Lexicon case has been ruled on. JKR won. F_W is preparing for incoming. This may short out your video card the rest of the way.

Re: Lexicon ruling in!

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for that! :)