XFX 6800GT PCIe dead???

[Sisko-]

It all started yesterday. any game i tried to play would crash after a minute of play and the screen would show artifacts. A few times after restarting, instead of seeing the usual black and white text you see when you turn on your pc, I would get overlapping unreadable jibberish.

so i'd turn the pc off and wait 10 seconds then turn it on & it was ok. still couldnt play games though. even after changing drivers again.

It wasnt over heating or anything. Last night before I went to bed I tried to play "garrys mod" but alas it crashed again. so I turned it off.

Now, today. I always get the messed up, unreadable text when turning on my pc. then it goes to the loading windows xp screen & it displays that ok. but right after that I get a flash of the blue screen of death and the pc turns off.


ive opend my pc up & checked all the wires + cleaned it. but every time i turn the pc on I get the same crap.

I managed to go into safe mode by guessing where to click (as all that text is unreadable) but there was nothing I could really do in safe mode cept try and reinstall the drivers yet again. and apon a restart I get the same **** so no luck:(

So I think my 470 euro card is dead now for no reason.


I bought it from Komplett.ie on june 1st 2005. (I live in Ireland)

Ive never overclocked it and I have never had any problems with it till now. Its ran like a dream till yesterday.

So what can I do? Is it dead? & if so am I screwed? or is there some way I can get a replacement or something. Nothing like this has ever happend to me before so I hope I'm posting in the right place.

If needed I could record what happens on my screen apon start up and upload it to youtube or something.

Oh and my specs:

AMD 3500, nforce 4 mobo, 2gb ram.

[Kougar]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Sisko! :(

Have you already created a support ticket via XFX's website for assistance? XFX Support doesn't visit these forums over the weekend, so that should be faster.

In regards to your specs, can you tell us what the exact power supply is that you are using?

The only other advice I can think to give is to ensure the cooler is still firmly seated on the graphics card and hasn't come loose at one corner or something. Don't remove the cooler though, this would void the warranty on your card.

And it's always worth a shot: I'd try powering down your system, unplugging it from the wall and resetting the BIOS, then physically remove the graphics card before reinserting it completely back into the slot?

[Krazykilla]

Ouch,
Yeah Kougar is right make sure you start a support ticket with XFX. Since your are able to go into safe mode, try downloading and installing the 84.21 driver from www.nvidia.com in their driver archive section. You also may want to try connecting a different molex power connector to the back of your video card (i think most of the 6600's need to be plugged in).

Hope you get it resolved soon.:???:

[Kougar]

That's a good idea with tryng a different molex connector. If possible I'd further suggest ya try to use a dedicated rail that is only plugged into the graphics card and not anything else.

Bad drivers wouldn't cause the problems with the POST screen, so it's something physical in nature wrong with the card, most likely being inadequate power, overheating, or it's just plain failing...

[Sisko-]

thanks for the replys guys. To answer your questions:

The power supply is the one that came with this case i'm using : http://www.arctic-cooling.com/pc_case2.php?idx=4

Ive checked the card and its cables and tried plugging differnt power cables into it but no luck. & the card seems just find to look at, the fan still works and everything.

As for drivers, I am able to go into safe mode and use driver cleaner, restart, get into windows with the default settings (although sometimes windows doesnt load up at all and I have to come back to it later as it seems to work if I leave it for awhile)


and install drivers, but once I restart again for the pc to load windows with the drivers I get the blue screen of death and the pc shuts down. Ive tried a number if differnt drivers and its all the same. So I basicly can't use any drivers for some reason.


The only thing I didnt try was the resetting bios thing that Kougar mentioned. I'm not really sure how i would go about this.


Oh and I guess I better start a support ticket with XFX as you guys have said. Thanks again for the replies.

[werty316]

To reset the bios you need to swtich the jumper "CMOS" on the board to "reset". Another way it to remove the motherboard battery and unplug the power cord for about 10mins.

Sounds like the card is dead anyhow. If you can try another video card and see if you get the same results.

[Kougar]

So, if I read that page correctly it's a Seasonic PSU with active PFC. Those are nice power supplies, so I have to agree it's likely the GPU itself then.

What Werty said works fine if you can't find the CMOS jumper, pulling out the button cell battery and disconnecting the power for 10 minutes would also clear the BIOS.

[Sisko-]

hmmm but how risky is this proceedure? I would have to do as you say (pulling out battery etc) as reading the bios information is a bit of a struggle as its not displayed properly.

Could there be a decent chance that doing this might fix my card? Sorry I'm just a bit apprehensive as luck has not been on my side of late :???:

[werty316]

If the problem is your 6800GT, clearing the CMOS won't help.

Clearing the CMOS just sets the BIOS to its factory settings like when you buy a board brand new.

[Xero (1)ne]

yah but incase someone where to change a setting in the bios dealing with video, it could cause a problem.

i would say overheating, i get artifacts whenever i clock mine too high, that or the core/ram is damaged
like kougar said, check the cooler, also if you dont mind fan noise (i dont) set the fan to always be on in the nvidia control pannel, that will help keep it cooler when idle, and mabey give you an extra month or two of life out of it(if it matters)

[Kougar]

It's not likely to fix the problem, no. But it was worth a shot and something to do, since the system is otherwise unusable. If you're not comfortable trying that then don't worry about it, it's far more likely the card itself is bad, and only an RMA will fix that.

[Sisko-]

Just so you guys know im dealing with komplett.ie at the moment (the site i bought the card from) so I'll see what happens.

I'll keep ppl updated (just in case anyone ever gets a similer problem) :-D

Oh and the problem is for sure the card as luckly my mam has a crappy old PCI card in her pc so i tested that and everything was grand, bios was normal etc.

So it has to be the card (unless its the PCIe slot but thats doubtful)

[Kougar]

Those old PCI graphics cards as so very handy to have laying around... ;)

Good luck and I hope that you can secure a new card without to much trouble. If not, XFX is a solid company that I am sure will honor their lifetime warranty on your card. I attempted to look up the info on their website for the UK, however only North and South America, and Asia are listed as regions to select from.

[Sisko-]

well I'm not from the UK but thanks anyways hehe ;-)

[xfxsupport]

Dear Sisko, Just checking in to see if you are able to get your retailer to exchange the card. If you are having any difficulties please let us know through this thread or contact the support team at www.xfxforce.com => Support => Help Desk.

[Kougar]

Err, sorry. I should have said Great Britain, I think?

[Sisko-]

Dear Sisko, Just checking in to see if you are able to get your retailer to exchange the card. If you are having any difficulties please let us know through this thread or contact the support team at www.xfxforce.com => Support => Help Desk.

Will do! thanks. I'm only posting it to them today.

and eh Kougar, I'm from Ireland. Like your country we managed to break free from the UK through a war of independence :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_War

[Kougar]

Hmm, so much for passing geography class I guess, my apologies :oops: I appreciate the clarification, as I was under the impression Ireland, Scotland, and Britain fell under at least one of those names, even if not part of Britain itself anymore.

[Sisko-]

No worries, infact ive spoken to many people from the UK who know no different:roll:

The confusion is probably to do with northen ireland. The Uk managed to hold on to part of our country and that part is called Northern Ireland. & yes its part of the UK along with wales and scotland.

http://www.alleuroperail.com/eurorailway-maps/uk-ireland-railways-lg.gif

Try to imagin if the brits managed to hold on to.. say...texas, because half the ppl living there where actualy british.

[Kougar]

That explains why the Brits forgave on the monetary dues/fees they had at the end of the war, either the wiki was off or I read it wrong as it made no sense when I read it.

It's ironic you should mention Texas... we're the only state to have been an official soverign country/Republic for ~10 years before we joined the US, and Mexico did a job trying to keep us first before that. :roll: And thanks for the map!