Resurrecting a 9800 Pro?

One of the Twelve · Jan 23, 2005, 07:16 AM

Some days ago my Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro just "died". Well it did not die completely, there are yellow vertical stripes on Windows desktop and weird colors in bios bootup screen / windows startup logo, sometimes "random" ASCII chars fill the screen... So I have a strong feeling there is still some hope left. Card was not overclocked at the moment it happened. Just began to watch a movie and all of a sudden I realized something's not right. Can't RMA because I was using Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer on it. But I don't want to give up, if somebody knows how can I locate what's burnt in it (I have a feeling something's overheated), I could maybe get another dead R9800Pro and change some parts carefully. Any help much appreciated.

Meantime I'm using Sapphire R9600 Pro which feels pretty good replacement.

Popopinsel · Jan 23, 2005, 07:53 AM

I've had this problem a couple of months ago, when I decided to refill my watercooling... It wasn't pluged in correctly, so some water dropped on my 9800Pro which resulted in those werid ASCII codes in Bios and while booting... I shut my pc down immediately, took a paper towel and a hairdryer and saved my cards life ^^ So, if u have watercooled components, check their connections...

Greetz
Popopinsel

One of the Twelve · Jan 23, 2005, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Popopinsel

took a paper towel and a hairdryer and saved my cards life ^^ So, if u have watercooled components, check their connections...

Greetz
Popopinsel

Thanks... I do have water cooling (amd64 cpu) but I'm afraid that won't help now, I tested that card in my P4 system and same thing...

riles9262 · Jan 23, 2005, 03:56 PM

It is probably dead if the same problem happens in both pc's. The silencer is making good contact with the gpu and the fan is fine right?

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 23, 2005, 06:48 PM

Rma the card?

One of the Twelve · Jan 24, 2005, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Neon_Cowboy

Rma the card?

Got it back from RMA as it was "modded" (haven't been using the default cooler)... Cooler is ok, but I verified my cpu waterblock and noticed there may have been a little leak - big enough to destroy the radeon, the other tube was a little bit loose ... well I haven't even tried that 9800 since friday, maybe I try cleaning it with some alcohol like liquid and dry & try again.

germanjulian · Jan 24, 2005, 08:41 PM

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol I had the same thing. WC = maybe accident.. dont know what happened. anyway all of a sudden one morning had weird vertical lines going down in windows and some display corruption etc. for 3 days. 4 day took of heatsink installed old one (no wc). let it run for a few hours = still problems. restart... tried underclocking.... restart

VOILA it works again!!!!

benchmarked it for 5 hours. let it cool down. test again all works.... odd odd..... maybe after 4 days and my old heatsink of doom = very hot = dried the card!?? lol dont know

9800Pro owns.

1 day later I installed my new (ordered before the 0800pro worked again) 9600XT which I have been using since, but in 2 days I will get my artic silencer and run my 9800Pro again (if it still works

)

let the beast run a while, do some weird stuff. Pull it out put it back in. O/C and U/C it. god hit the dam thing and chuck in on the bed (i did that) now it works again

PS: sorry drunk english bad

One of the Twelve · Jan 25, 2005, 03:17 AM

Thanks germanjulian & driverheaven.net - your help just made my day

germanjulian · Jan 25, 2005, 05:05 AM

huh is it working? lol???

only when its fixed tell us we made ur day...

Jan 23, 2005, 07:16 AM	#1
One of the Twelve DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: The Kold North Posts: 131 Rep Power: 0	Resurrecting a 9800 Pro? Some days ago my Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro just "died". Well it did not die completely, there are yellow vertical stripes on Windows desktop and weird colors in bios bootup screen / windows startup logo, sometimes "random" ASCII chars fill the screen... So I have a strong feeling there is still some hope left. Card was not overclocked at the moment it happened. Just began to watch a movie and all of a sudden I realized something's not right. Can't RMA because I was using Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer on it. But I don't want to give up, if somebody knows how can I locate what's burnt in it (I have a feeling something's overheated), I could maybe get another dead R9800Pro and change some parts carefully. Any help much appreciated. Meantime I'm using Sapphire R9600 Pro which feels pretty good replacement. __________________

Jan 23, 2005, 03:56 PM	#4
riles9262 Driverheaven brewmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 4,839 Rep Power: 55 System Specs	It is probably dead if the same problem happens in both pc's. The silencer is making good contact with the gpu and the fan is fine right? __________________ A beer a day keeps the doctor away.

Jan 23, 2005, 06:48 PM	#5
The_Neon_Cowboy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,135 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Rma the card? __________________

Jan 24, 2005, 08:41 PM	#7
germanjulian Back in London Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 1,794 Rep Power: 0	NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! lol I had the same thing. WC = maybe accident.. dont know what happened. anyway all of a sudden one morning had weird vertical lines going down in windows and some display corruption etc. for 3 days. 4 day took of heatsink installed old one (no wc). let it run for a few hours = still problems. restart... tried underclocking.... restart VOILA it works again!!!! benchmarked it for 5 hours. let it cool down. test again all works.... odd odd..... maybe after 4 days and my old heatsink of doom = very hot = dried the card!?? lol dont know 9800Pro owns. 1 day later I installed my new (ordered before the 0800pro worked again) 9600XT which I have been using since, but in 2 days I will get my artic silencer and run my 9800Pro again (if it still works ) let the beast run a while, do some weird stuff. Pull it out put it back in. O/C and U/C it. god hit the dam thing and chuck in on the bed (i did that) now it works again PS: sorry drunk english bad __________________ /\|\ Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel C2D E6600, 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2, E-VGA GeForce 7800 GT, Creative X-Fi Extreme Music, 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, Lian Li PC-V1100 Aluminum Case Black, etc. http://germanjulian.com /\|\

Jan 25, 2005, 03:17 AM	#8
One of the Twelve DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: The Kold North Posts: 131 Rep Power: 0	Thanks germanjulian & driverheaven.net - your help just made my day __________________

Jan 23, 2005, 07:53 AM	#2
Popopinsel T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Cologne, Germany Posts: 25 Rep Power: 0	I've had this problem a couple of months ago, when I decided to refill my watercooling... It wasn't pluged in correctly, so some water dropped on my 9800Pro which resulted in those werid ASCII codes in Bios and while booting... I shut my pc down immediately, took a paper towel and a hairdryer and saved my cards life ^^ So, if u have watercooled components, check their connections... Greetz Popopinsel

Jan 25, 2005, 05:05 AM	#9
germanjulian Back in London Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 1,794 Rep Power: 0	huh is it working? lol??? only when its fixed tell us we made ur day... __________________ /\|\ Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel C2D E6600, 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2, E-VGA GeForce 7800 GT, Creative X-Fi Extreme Music, 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, Lian Li PC-V1100 Aluminum Case Black, etc. http://germanjulian.com /\|\