Is my Sapphire caput or what?

mantra17 · Dec 17, 2003, 11:52 AM

This is my first quistion here and pardon my english, I'm from Scandinavia. Well I have a Sapphire 9700 nonpro, and lately it's acting weird. After 30-40 minutes into Windows XP, vertical stripes are covering whole the monitor. The stripe is 3-5mm long from top til bottom, and between the stripes there is ca 2cm, and a little transparent black square is following the arrow, wherever I set it.
I have tried it in another PC and nothing's changes. I formated HD, I still not success with this. I love my card, it's fased out of production and it have give so much happy times. Can anybody help me?
My mobo is Asus A7N8X dl(bios 1007),a Barton 2500 witk OCZ PC3200.
I will almost be suiciadal if it's dead.

DosCervezas · Dec 17, 2003, 11:58 AM

Sounds like the card is overheating. Did you check to make sure the fan is still working?

mantra17 · Dec 17, 2003, 03:56 PM

Yes, I have checked it ,it turning around, but still the lady(post speach) says"video fan failed". Can it be that it turns too slow, is there any place in bios (I haven't seen some) or a program, I can monitor the speed of the fan. I thought the same as you and put a another fan, a Zalman chipsetfan instead and connect it on chassisfan connection on the mobo. Yes, I can probably monitor the speed on Asus probe program. But it can be the memory chip as well.
I think you have a point, it must be an issue of heat, either on the GPU or the mem.
[.....a little off topic:I have ordered a new card, a Hightech Excalibur 9800 pro,but still,I love that card]

quazi · Dec 17, 2003, 07:08 PM

I have experienced this on two occasions today while using my Radeon 9500 pro. Both times I was playing movies on my computer, but my case was open and my card very well ventilated. I was already planning on sending my card to ATI because of other issues and this gives me more reason to do so.

mantra17 · Dec 18, 2003, 07:22 AM

I Thougth it was a heat issue, but strangely, after I have installed Powerstrip with Catalyst driver 3.5, the problem was solved. Now I have installed Catalyst 3.10 and there has been ca. 8 hours with no errors.
3Dmark 03 has been tested, and I reached the rating I use to.
It seems to be a SW problem rather than HWprob.
But I will run some more tests, before I'm sure.

BWX · Dec 18, 2003, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mantra17
I Thougth it was a heat issue, but strangely, after I have installed Powerstrip with Catalyst driver 3.5, the problem was solved. Now I have installed Catalyst 3.10 and there has been ca. 8 hours with no errors.
3Dmark 03 has been tested, and I reached the rating I use to.
It seems to be a SW problem rather than HWprob.
But I will run some more tests, before I'm sure.

I would make sure the heatsink is attached to the video card very firmly. Sometimes the clips holding it on get a little loose over time and need to just be tightened up a little bit. I would press firmly on the heatsink while twisting a very small amount back and forth and push the pins in tight with your fingers on the other side of the card.

Once in a great while after a driver change I have seen artifacts on the left half of the screen even in the bios, and in windows until I reboot. You also want to make sure you UNinstall Radclocker/Radlinker before you uninstall/reinstall the ATI drivers if you are using Radclocker.

I bet your card is fine, sometimes they can act a little flaky- then they calm down- my 9700pro has done some really weird things, but it keeps on chuggin.

Make sure you have very good air flow directly on your card, that always helps. If you have to, take the side off you PC case and set a small fan next to your 9700np. I suggest you put an 80mm pr 92mm fan in the side of your case blowing directly onto your video card. It has worked wonders for my card.

mantra17 · Dec 19, 2003, 02:33 AM

BWX232 wrote:
I would make sure the heatsink is attached to the video card very firmly. Sometimes the clips holding it on get a little loose over time and need to just be tightened up a little bit. I would press firmly on the heatsink while twisting a very small amount back and forth and push the pins in tight with your fingers on the other side of the card.

My hope was in vain, the card is back with the stripes. Hardware issue rather than SW, I'll say now, I'll take back my former conclusion.
What heatsink are you talking about BWX232, there is only a little fan with some small ribs? around the fan. Maybe there are some different models. I will consider to buy a Zalman heatsink(I don't remember the name), but it covers the card on both sides and it can be attached with a fan. But it can be a waste of money if the card is caput. I have contact Sapphire in UK, 'cause the company which sold me the card is bankrupt(of course), to see if I can use the guarantee.
Is this site an American one? There are thousands of HW sites, but I do like this; driverheaven and hw.no, the Norwegian one.
Well, thanks for helping me, I'm leaving the city now and go to the mountains with a lot of snow, but out of reach internet. Happy holydays!

BWX · Dec 19, 2003, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mantra17
BWX232 wrote:
I would make sure the heatsink is attached to the video card very firmly. Sometimes the clips holding it on get a little loose over time and need to just be tightened up a little bit. I would press firmly on the heatsink while twisting a very small amount back and forth and push the pins in tight with your fingers on the other side of the card.

My hope was in vain, the card is back with the stripes. Hardware issue rather than SW, I'll say now, I'll take back my former conclusion.
What heatsink are you talking about BWX232, there is only a little fan with some small ribs? around the fan. Maybe there are some different models. I will consider to buy a Zalman heatsink(I don't remember the name), but it covers the card on both sides and it can be attached with a fan. But it can be a waste of money if the card is caput. I have contact Sapphire in UK, 'cause the company which sold me the card is bankrupt(of course), to see if I can use the guarantee.
Is this site an American one? There are thousands of HW sites, but I do like this; driverheaven and hw.no, the Norwegian one.
Well, thanks for helping me, I'm leaving the city now and go to the mountains with a lot of snow, but out of reach internet. Happy holydays!

The thing with the ribs is the heatsink. The fan is attacked to the heatsink.