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Hello. I have a major problem. I ordered a BTX/Pci Express computer from Gateway. It worked fine for a week, then I started getting "sun spots"-- little black boxes that appear and vanish -- on my games and when I watched DVDs. They didn't show up on my normal Windows screen at first, but did appear in the 3D box inside my ATI control panel. More and more boxes appeared at once, then eventually the Windows picture got scrambled in several spots, then the card just quit (the process took a day). I was sent an ATI x600 Pro card as a temporary replacement and it ran without problems for a month, although I never used it for games or DVDs like the other card. I talked to some people who said it could have been from having too small a power supply for the card-- I needed a 350w but a 300w came with my machine. I bought a 520w power supply and put in the replacement (identical) ATI x800 XT card. Played games and watched DVDs. Within two days I started noticing black boxes on my DVDs, then they started appearing in games...then the new card died, just as the original had. I have a new x850 XT card from Newegg but I'm afraid to put it in. Please, does anyone have any idea what is causing my cards to go bad?
sounds like overheated. bring the card to your friends house and test it out. if it works on your friend's computer, then the card didnt die. if it really died cuz of overheated, then you need to add more fans to your PC. if it died cuz of other events, you might need techical support for that. but mostly video card died because of overheated. i just couldnt think any reason why it died other than overheated. Short circut? if this is the problem, then your pc die too, so i dont think thats the problem. BIOs or directX problem? No, i dont think so. well, you can buy a Nvidia card instead of ATI and test it on your computer. OR try other ATI series like Radeon series instead of X600-X800. if they die too, then you really need to add cooling system(more fans), especially you changed from a 350W to 520W power. More power, more heat.
P4 3.2GHZ
kingstom 1GB DDR 3200
Nvidia geforce FX 5950 256mb
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I concur the heat theory too. Unfortunately if that's the case a bigger PSU might not be to your advantage. I'll recommend scratching the replacement PC option and politely ask Gateway for a refund.
You may pay a little more for a customised rig, but at least you'll have more control over it.
Do not type anything in this space.
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Thanks for the help. Gateway is not an option, unfortunately. I waited three months for Gateway to replace the bad card, making somewhere between 20-30 calls in the process. The only reason I was able to get one was because I got one of the staff to agree (on tape, with the person's reluctant permission) to a full refund if I didn't get one with the next shipment. What do you know, it arrived two days later. I was actually lucky. These days, Gateway won't even refund or replace $30 keyboards.
The power supply has four fans built into it so I just assumed it could keep everything cool enough. Overheating does make sense though. Both of the cards came with a built in heatsink and no fans -- the man who installed it says he doesn't like heatsinks because they don't keep cards cool enough. (The new x850 xt I bought has a fan built into it.) I have a 7200xl Gateway BTX machine with 2 dvd drives, three smaller drives (like a memory card reader), 1 7200rp Western Digital 250 gig hard drive, a TV Wonder Pro card, 5.1 speakers with a very large subwoofer, 520w Link Depot power supply w/four fans, and a 20 inch LCD monitor. How many fans should I buy or what kind of cooling system is strong enough? Is there something compatible with BTX and nearly silent? Thanks again!
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An ATi x800XT without any fan!!! Don't
look further, this must have been the
problem.To make sure another card wont
overheat, you should install a 80mm Fan
blowing directly on the card.AMD 64 3200+ 754
Abit KV8 Pro
1go DDR 400 Kingston
FX5700LE
160 gb SATA Maxtor
80 gb WD
0
lol, no fans on the video card? No wonder, especially for those high-end grapihc card. easy to overheated. cuz they are fast and powerful , they generate heat fast as well.
P4 3.2GHZ
kingstom 1GB DDR 3200
Nvidia geforce FX 5950 256mb
0
hello everyone,
I have a problem on my pc hardware, I don't really know
if it is the graphic card, the memory, the board or the
power supply of my pc. here's the detailed explanation
of what had occured to me.
it started 2 weeks ago, when my brother and i were
watching a movie. After 4 hrs of wathching the pc shut
down automatically. So we thought it just overheated.
But the day after that happening, everytime i start the
computer it's automatically shuting down. First it shut
down after watching 15 minutes movie. Then it shut down
after 10 minutes running macromedia flash, so my brother
as the technician of the pc decided. to take a look at
it and he said he found that the graphic card(gforce
fx)was dead(he thought). so we decided to buy a new
graphic card(gforce2 mx). but when we try to plugin the
gcard, it's not running. the problem still exist.
Everytime I turn on my pc for 15 to 20 minutes it will
turn off automatically. By the way my operating system
was windows xp. My brother thought the main board is the
problem. so decided to wait for Almer, one good
technician around here. THen he diagnosed our pc and he
said "the problem is not the gcard or the mainboard
because if the mainboard is the problem it will not
launch window or it will not read the devices attached
from it. and if the gcard was the problem, the pc
monitor will not turn on.. anyway our processor is
pentium3 600 mhz and the mainboard is the one compatible
with p3(i don't know what do they call it). so he told
me to put the old gcard(gforce fx) and put the a good
fan on it. I do what he said and then my pc started to
turn normal for the whole night but, the next day again,
the same problem exist.. so i call Almer and he told me
that he has a doubt about the memory attached in the
mboard.. THere are 1 256mb Sdram and 1 128 mb attached
to it.. so he told me to remove one either the 256mb or
the 128. so i try his suggestion and i found out the the
256 sdram is not working well(i thought).. so i start my
computer and it ran normally for 3 days... but last
night when i try to open it... the same problem
occured.. but it get worse it will only run for 1 - 3
mins or sometimes less than..
This is the description of the problem that occurs to
me.. When you turn on the pc, sometimes the monitor is
blinking. (Note: the built in speaker is dead, that's
why we cant hear the beep). and you have to wait for a
few minutes for it to detect the drives and all of the
card attach to the board.. ANd sometimes when it load
the os (windowsxp) it will automatically shut down after
auto-running our mcaffee v-scan... if you enter safe
mode,or safemode with console it will run for a
longtime. but if you restart it normally it will
shutdown automatically after a few minutes of running
it.. sometimes you will hear flow of electricy from
board to drive was cutting.. and also if the pc turn-off
by itself you need to turn on the voltage regulator for
a few seconds before turning for me to be able to turn
the power from the cpu..
I hope that the problem stated above was detailed enough
to tell me what was the problem..
Good luck and Thank you very much!
jopeman
education is the only way out
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No offense, but you need to start your own thread, Jopeman. More people are likely to give you a response. If you don't know how I can give you instructions.
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I know threads are usually dead by the time they reach 10 responses, but I thought I'd try anyway. My Radeon card (you can see the heatsink sticking up from the metal bracket) has a tv card located beneath it, with a slot inbetween to keep them cooler. Here's the picture location:
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/sc/31241946-2-300-internal-4.gifCan I even fit a 80mm fan in here, especially one pointing at the graphics card?
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