Hardware woes

[theotherguy]

Well,just got done with 8 hours of continuous repairs.

There was a power surge and my old 400W power supply of 5 years simply blew out on me, my modem also died, and I had numerous problems with my video and sound cards. I repaired the modem (it turned out to be a blown cable), replaced the power supply with a high quality Coolermaster, and replaced some of my cables.

I was able to salvage the sound card, but not the video card, so I decided to replace it (an aging 9800 pro) with a Diamond Viper Ati Radeon x1950 (AGP 8x, 512MB).

However, I am not getting any output whatsoever out of the card. The fan works, its buzzing away and appears to be working, but there is no signal at all on my monitor. I checked the support docs on Diamond's site, and installed new drivers, but nothing at all seems to work. (I had to get them from ATI's site, because, ironically, the ones from Diamond's site wouldn't install because I did not have the video card currentley installed on my machine). So now I am running on an extremely old Geforce3.

Any idea what the problem could be? I have all the correct settings on BIOS, nothing on the card seems to suggest that I shouldn't be able to use it with my ASUS motherboard, and I've got the latest catalyst drivers installed. I also checked the DVI-to-VGA adapter and it works perfectly.

 

[Dekstar]

You might just have a fried card, dude. I'd suggest sending it back and getting a replacement, saving yourself more trouble.

 

[phantomdesign]

Probably just received a DOA card; send it back to be replaced. IF that doesnt' work, your motherboard has problems.

 

[theotherguy]

I've been doing alot of research on this, and apparently its my PSU. The card eats a ton of amps, requiring 34-38A on the 12V rail (I don't even know what a 12V rail is to be honest), and it also has this little six-pin power connector on it, which my PSU does not have.

 

[Asus]

You can get an adapter for a 4pin molex to 6pin GPU plug. Sometimes video cards come with one too.

For amps, there is a sticker on your PSU. Will say 12+ volts and list amps for it. I would think 28 or more amps and you would be fine unless you have a lot of hard drives.

 

[Ravioli]

woha!!! i didnt know power surges could do such things, now im scared. How do i know my computer is protected? Cuz i have power surges quite alot, actually 3 of them with my new computer but it havent done anything to it. Could someone explain more indepth about power surges and computers please?

 

[theotherguy]

woha!!! i didnt know power surges could do such things, now im scared. How do i know my computer is protected? Cuz i have power surges quite alot, actually 3 of them with my new computer but it havent done anything to it. Could someone explain more indepth about power surges and computers please?

I'm not sure it was a power surge that killed it. It could be that the PSU just died. But my modem and video card raise questions.... so I dunno.

 

[theotherguy]

You can get an adapter for a 4pin molex to 6pin GPU plug. Sometimes video cards come with one too.

For amps, there is a sticker on your PSU. Will say 12+ volts and list amps for it. I would think 28 or more amps and you would be fine unless you have a lot of hard drives.

Yeah, its only got 16A on the 12v, so even if I got an adapter it wouldn't be able to power the vid card, which I have read needs at least 30A

 

[Asus]

Only 16A, ouch.

woha!!! i didnt know power surges could do such things, now im scared. How do i know my computer is protected? Cuz i have power surges quite alot, actually 3 of them with my new computer but it havent done anything to it. Could someone explain more indepth about power surges and computers please?

Best thing to do is buy one of those UPS backups (Battery/surge protector). Basically if power goes out then it switches to the battery to power your PC. I can pull my cord out from the wall and my PC still is going. Also, if the voltage goes too high or too low then it switches to the battery. So they are great if you don't have clean power from the wall. I have a 800VA APC model.

 

[theotherguy]

Shit.

Bought a new power supply with 600W, and 35A on the 12v rail. Plugged in my x1950 pro, and it works like a charm (for the first bootup anyway)

There are a few weird artifacts when I'm checking out the BIOS, but it didn't look like anything serious. Started up windows, and was greeted by the message "New Video Adapter Detected" which then changed to "ATI RADEON X1950 PRO detected".

I immedietley went to the graphics settings. Drivers were up to date, card was recognized.

However, it was running on 640X480 in 8 bit color. So, I switch the screen from that to 1600X1200 and 32 bit color. Immediatley after I hit "apply", the screen goes blank, says "NO DISPLAY", and the fans on the card and processor go absolutley crazy.

Then, the system crashes and restarts. I supposed it must have been a driver issue, so I waited for it to restart. I get as far as the windows loading bar, and as soon as that's done, and it looks like windows is going to start up, the screen goes blank and says NO DISPLAY, and then my monitor immediatley goes into stanby mode.

I try this again and again, and the same scenario repeats itself. Now I can't even start up windows, it merely crashes right after the loading bar. I cannot even enter safe mode.


I've done alot of research on this, and apparentley this is a problem that holds true for almost all X1950 AGP cards. They apparentley have very poor cooling and are quite tempremental.

So, I think I'm just going to return this piece of crap and stick with my 9800 pro for a few more years, and then upgrade my entire system to Dual/Quad-core and PCI-E

 

[Asus]

Did ya cycle the power on the power supply again? That really sucks though.

 

[MRG]

Shit.

Bought a new power supply with 600W, and 35A on the 12v rail. Plugged in my x1950 pro, and it works like a charm (for the first bootup anyway)

There are a few weird artifacts when I'm checking out the BIOS, but it didn't look like anything serious. Started up windows, and was greeted by the message "New Video Adapter Detected" which then changed to "ATI RADEON X1950 PRO detected".

I immedietley went to the graphics settings. Drivers were up to date, card was recognized.

However, it was running on 640X480 in 8 bit color. So, I switch the screen from that to 1600X1200 and 32 bit color. Immediatley after I hit "apply", the screen goes blank, says "NO DISPLAY", and the fans on the card and processor go absolutley crazy.

Then, the system crashes and restarts. I supposed it must have been a driver issue, so I waited for it to restart. I get as far as the windows loading bar, and as soon as that's done, and it looks like windows is going to start up, the screen goes blank and says NO DISPLAY, and then my monitor immediatley goes into stanby mode.

I try this again and again, and the same scenario repeats itself. Now I can't even start up windows, it merely crashes right after the loading bar. I cannot even enter safe mode.


I've done alot of research on this, and apparentley this is a problem that holds true for almost all X1950 AGP cards. They apparentley have very poor cooling and are quite tempremental.

So, I think I'm just going to return this piece of crap and stick with my 9800 pro for a few more years, and then upgrade my entire system to Dual/Quad-core and PCI-E

I'm sorry, but I did not read all the posts so if my question is already answered, I'll just stick my foot in my mouth now to save me the trouble of doing so later.

1) Monitor supports that Res?
2) Clean HS&F on the card? Good airflow?

The x1950 is an amazingly powerful card. Keep it and buy an aftermarket HS&F. Lower the res & insure good airflow through your case.

Ok, should I put my foot in now?

-MRG

 

[theotherguy]

1)yes
2) Heat sink and fan appears to be working

Returning the card tommorrow, possibly buying a better-reviewed version of the x1950.

 

[MRG]

1)yes
2) Heat sink and fan appears to be working

Returning the card tommorrow, possibly buying a better-reviewed version of the x1950.

Which maker are you going with? Sapphire? PowerColor? ATI? I'm a big fan of eVGA & Sapphire. I have had several cards from them over the years and they always worked out very well.

Let us know how the new card works!

-MRG