6600GT appears to be dead

[ikonia]

guys,

just got a 6600GT - brand new boxed/sealed etc etc.

put it in my machine to test it while I'm waiting for new mobo etc etc

I put the card in - it lights up, the fan spins up etc, but the screens remain dead and the machine does not boot, I get no error beeps but the machine hangs (I have to hold the power button down to reset it)

I put my 5700 back in and it comes alive, I get the normal 1 beep and it boots.


I hate to ask but it looks like the card is dead to me ?

Any suggestions on how to test it ?

Thanks,

[nvening]

Well occasionaly a card an a motherboard just wont go together, even if and exactly the same card will work, u will need to try it in another pc, or it may just be a dud.

[nur5ey]

It sounds dead to me, might be a bios thing but i f you havent got a mate with a gt in his mobo that you could ask to try yours in then its the way of the dodo m8.

[Olly1234]

The first leadtek 6600gt I was sent was dud, worked to desktop but 3d games just broke up and ground to a halt.

Put it in and clear your CMOS using the jumper as well before you send it back though, my SLi sometimes lcks up, but thats usually when I forget to clear it after bios flash, worth a try though

[ikonia]

thanks guys,

I'm going to take it to somewhere like PC World tommorow and see if they will put it in one of their test machines

totally gutted

[Lu-tze]

hello, doesn't that card require connection to a 4-pin molex? have you made sure it was connected? i only suggest this i'm aware of similar symptoms occurring with someone else pc as he hadn't done this.

[ikonia]

molex connected - same issue no beep codes, just a black screen

[ikonia]

when I say black screen I mean I don't even get the card bios version on power on, let alone the motherboard Bios version

[skuzgib]

Sounds like it could be the power supply to me.
What sort you got - I think you need a decent 350w MINIMUM.

[Olly1234]

Beings you say you put your 5700 back in I'm guessing you've got agp MB, what MB+psu have you got? My NF-7 used to do this with my 9800 pro sometimes, wouldn;t come bac till I cleared the Cmos, RMA'd it shortly after that and they sent me a nice new MB, something to do with voltage regulatorm I read..Anyway :-)

[ikonia]

well the mobo is quite and old one, QDI, Plantix 2E

the PSU is a 350 watt one, and this could well be the problem.

I have a new Asues mobo and 600watt PSU waiting to be installed when my FX CPU eventually gets here.

The card arrived early so I thought I'd test it on my old mobo (agp x4 only)

It is possible its the mobo PSU - but because my CPU's not turned up yet I can't test it with the new mobo.

you guys make some great suggestions.

The best I can suggest from what you've said is take it to PC world or somewhere with a fat wad of power behind it and ask them nicley to test it, then depending on that wait for the new mobo to arrive.


very frustrating.

But some great advice

[Olly1234]

Ahhh I think it could be the 4x agp...I'm not sure the new 6600gt's work with anything but 8x agp because it's agp v3..0...One sec whilst I google..Yep:

AGP 4x - This AGP standard features a parallel 32-bit bus running at 266MHz effectively (66MHz*4 literally) for a maximum data transfer rate of 1GB/second. AGP 4x slots are compatible with 1x, 2x, and 4x graphics cards.

AGP 8x - This AGP standard features a parallel 32-bit bus running at 533MHz effectively (66MHz*8 literally) for a maximum data transfer rate of 2GB/second. This is the last parallel form of AGP, and is compatible with all previous AGP cards.

So I think may have located the problem..

[Zathras]

The cards should support the lower AGP modes as well though!

[Olly1234]

Actually I've just chcked and it should do

Like you say, take it somewhere to test, although if you can find anywhere else but PC World... A mates maybe?

[Olly1234]

There again though by all accounts some older MB's supported a different signal voltage:

Speed is always backwards compatible,
for example, a 4x device must be able to run at 2x and 1x.

The signalling voltage is the only incompatible part.

An 8x device must be 0.8v,
a 4x device can be 1.5v or 0.8v,
a 2x or 1x device can be 3.3v or 1.5v.

The connectors are keyed so that you can only use compatible equipment.
AGP 1.0 and 2.0 devices using a 1.5v key, signal at 1.5v, while AGP 3.0 devices using the 1.5v key and signal at 0.8v.
AGP 3.0 devices must be tolerant of 1.5v signalling though, they won't necessarily work, but will not be destroyed if inserted into an AGP 1.0/2.0 slot.

So maybe that could be it, full article here: http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/...atibility.html

[ikonia]

very cool info.

I could do a mates house for a test but you never know what special treats they have in their PC's.

I suggest PC world as its down the road and they normally have a fair few test PC's around in thier "lab", so suck as they may they should have a %100 compatible test machine available.

Thanks for all the info - really good and interesting