When the system starts the display is just showing a pattern of coloured blocks on the screen. I noticed the fan has also stopped spinning. Is the card well and truely busted?
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When the system starts the display is just showing a pattern of coloured blocks on the screen. I noticed the fan has also stopped spinning. Is the card well and truely busted?
Probably, but not necessarily - but you need to fix the fan first as it is clearly overheating. You might find that it bursts back into life. (Has the fan seized up? Does it rotate freely by hand? Are any external power connctors properly connected)
What peterb said...
If you can get the fan going again it may return to life, you can get replacement/ alternative VGA coolers. If you can get one dirt cheap it might give the card a bit more lifespan, if its still alive.
if this happens when it starts i doubt its had time to heat up enough to corrupt, always worth removing the heatsink and cleaning the baked on crud off on the off chance, but chance is its overheated until its blown if you didnt notice the fans bust.
You'd be surprised how resilient those old bad boys are, see if you can get the fan going/replaced, or try looking for HSFs on fleabay that'd fit it.
Probably time to buy a new card anyway. I don't think you can complain about how long it's lasted.
Yes it's gone probably, you should buy a new one :)
I've had a few 9700/9800s which have gone the way of the artifact. I think it's new card time... :)
Bloody good card in it's day though. I had an HIS one and it overclocked like you wouldn't believe.
I would like to save it but finding a fan is proving a bit tricky. I don't want to spend alot in case the card really is bust.
Well if you buggered your graphics card, its not surprising that it no longer works ;)
Don't bother buying a new fan, it will cost almost as much as a new AGP card..
The likelyhood is it's dead if it's showing artifacts like you describe. Best cut your losses and definitely not worth spending money trying to save it :(
You can always try to UNDERclock the memory on your 9800pro (thats what I did with mine). I had the exact problem as you and It's just getting old and overheating I assume. Find a game that gives you artifacts; for me it was CS Source and WoW. Than download that one ATI Tool tray or by james something I believe? Anyway's, slowely lower the memory on the overclocking option. I had mine like up to 20 below and it didnt lower the performance of the games (I didnt personally notice anything), but the artifacts were practically Non-existent. In some long usage circumstances of the computer you may find them sneaking back up but I mean, you must be using it a lot! Or the computer got really warm.
That's my best fix, it worked for me and in all else... Upgrade :)
The problem with that is that the OP says it's happening at system start-up, before it's had a chance to heat up much/do any real work :(
Well that's not really surprising if the fan isn't working at all.
I would try pointing a big fan at the card and seeing if the artifacts are still there. If they are I think it's virtually certain that it's buggered.