8800GTX or PSU problem!!

[yummy]

Hi there,

I've been lurking in these forums for a while, but have yet to say hi. So, hi!

Anyway, the reason I have been lured out of lurk mode is because I have a problem with either my XFX8800GTX or my Antec Trio 650W PSU. It has been running fine for about a week, but now on boot up, I get graphical corruption instantly right from the power on. I have tested this out with my old AGP X800XTPE and it works fine. Because of this, I suspect the fault is either the 8800GTX card itself, or the two PCI-E connectors that are required for the 8800GTX.

I wanted to ask those in the know here what I could do to test either theory? Unfortunately I don't have a spare dual PCI-E graphics card or a power supply with dual PCI-E. I have the case fully open and the fan on the card is working.

System specs below:
AMD X2 4200
3GB DDR1 RAM
2xSATA and 1xSATA2 HDD
Asrock Dual SATA 939 motherboard
Vista 64



It's very strange, Windows takes a bit longer to load (I see the cursor for about 3 seconds before the loading animation kicks in), and reboots about 10 seconds in (I guess when it tries to load the graphics driver?). On the rare occasion that I can get into Safe Mode, the card's display information is all blank. I can't see anything when running DVI to DVI from card to monitor (my monitor says it's in sleep mode, push any key or move the mouse to power up - of course this doesn't work...), but hooking up an old VGA cable with a DVI connector for the card allows me to see something at least.

If the system has not got enough power, will it cause corruption? I should have enough... the calcuator at extreme outervision says I only needed 560W. I've never overclocked the card.

I tried to post pics of this in action but it won't let me post URLs until 5 posts...

Anyone have a clue? Thanks for any help thrown this way!


Cheers,
Nick

[this_is_gav]

Graphical corruption is normally a sign of dodgy memory on the card, so that's where I'll place my money.

Normally, if a card can't get enough juice (it would be amps rather than watts in your case) it'll either refuse to start completely, or show instability under load (normally gaming).

[zashark]

Send it back old faithful friend to the pits of RMa land

[yummy]

Ah well, another week or two without joy. I might actually have to go outside and get some exercise!

Thanks for the advice.

Cheers,
Nick

[Blitzen]

Graphical corruption is normally a sign of dodgy memory on the card, so that's where I'll place my money.

Normally, if a card can't get enough juice (it would be amps rather than watts in your case) it'll either refuse to start completely, or show instability under load (normally gaming).

I agree.....this is memory blown i think.
The corruption when poweer is turned on points to this.
As Gav said, if it was power, you would get to the desktop fine but games would corrupt.

[z80]

As has been said this does point to memory issues - it may be worth trying in a different PC if you can though?

[shaithis]

I would expect the PC to be rebooting itself and/or not turning on every time if it was PSU related.

[yummy]

Ah I wish I could try it on another PC, but no one has a strong enough PSU to support it.

I've gone through XFX to get this supported and warranty replaced, but they are taking an age to get back to me... 2.5 days business and counting, their supposed maximum time to get back to a customer is next business day.

Oh well, will let you know what happens!

[z80]

How long ago did you buy it? You should be able to get a replacement from where you bought it from if it was not a long time ago?

[pands@scan]

If its Scans let me know and ill arrange an RMA

[yummy]

Ah I wish it was from the UK, but it was a present from my sister in LA. Going through web support has been slow! I got this just about 5 weeks ago.

@ Pands - do you happen to know if XFX have a repair /RMA service in the UK/EU?

Cheers,
Nick

[yummy]

They responded today, it seems that I'm all clear for an RMA... hooray!

They do indeed have a place to RMA in the UK... not sure if they are just agents though.

Will let you know how it all goes... this could take 'up to four weeks'!

[yummy]

All fixed!

Well, replaced at least. Everything is working fine again... looks like it was the graphics card after all!

[unxetas]

good to know mate.. did it take them 27 days to get it replaced?

would be useful to know how you'd rate their service

[ionicle]

yeah, a rating would be good, how long things took, how polite the people were, etc

[yummy]

Oops, I didn't notice there were threads after my last, sorry

It did take them 27 days from first post to getting the card back. Slow, but friendly and professional, I'd rate them 4/5.

However, I'm just writing to say that the replacement card has packed it in... getting graphical and text corruption even at the bios screen and Vista won't even boot if I install drivers. Tried this on 4 computers and all have the same results. Didn't overclock this card at all (didn't feel it needed it!)

First message to them was 07Sep... let's see how long it takes for them to turn this around this time. Meeting the usual resistance to RMA...

If anyone is interested... my initial post:

Hi again, Unfortunately it`s happening with the refurbished replacement card. I`m getting corrupted text even in the BIOS. As with before, I have tried the following: 1). reset to the BIOS default settings. 2). reseating the graphics card. 3). removed non-essential hardware components (like extra hard drives) 4). removed RAM, DIMM by DIMM 5) Tried latest beta drivers, latest stable drivers... though again it seems like it is not a driver issue as it occurs in the bios and POST screens as well 6). most recent motherboard drivers installed, reflashed with the latest BIOS. 7) tried this in a different computer, corrupted text shows even in the BIOS/POST. 8) used a backup ATI X1800XL and works fine. 9) Tried DVI and DVI to VGA connector 10) When in Windows the monitor flicks on and off while the graphics card struggles to keep a stable picture. May I obtain an RMA with you directly again?

Their response:

HI, sorry to hear you are having more problems, but this card was fully checked before being sent out and we strongly recommend you have your system checked out in a properly equipped PC workshop, or try the card in another system, preferably with SLI-certified components (http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_build.html). Thanks Tony