Hi, I just received an XFX 6600gt in the mail earlier today. I am upgrading from a Radeon 9600se, so I uninstalled the ATI drivers, and took the card out. I replaced it with the 6600, and plugged in a connector from my power supply. I booted up, and heard a loud beeping coming from the computer, followed by a long string of more annoying beeps. I looked at the screen, and where the Windows startup text (that displays all my stats, lets me go into my bios, etc) would normally appear there was just a scrambled mess of white text. I kinda freaked out and just shut off the computer as soon as I saw and heard what was happening. After this, I took out the card and inspected it, but I could see no visible damage to the card or any part of my motherboard. I put it back in and tried it again. The same thing happened, but this time I let it ride out, and when Windows actually started, I could see the desktop, but there were colored vertical lines cutting through the screen. I downloaded and started installing the nVidia drivers, hoping maybe once I got the software installed the problem would fix itself. But, as I was installing the drivers the screen cut out. The monitor and computer were still on, but there was just a black screen. I shut it off and double checked the card, but it still looked fine. This time though I tried a different connector from my power supply (although in hindsight this really shouldn't have made a difference since the card should still at least work even without the extra power connection). After this I tried multiple other power supply cords, and tried putting the video adapter into the other DVI slot. Nothing worked, so I just put the 9600 back in to make sure I didn't screw up the AGP slot or the whole motherboard. This card still works fine though, so theres obviously something going on with the 6600. I've been scanning a lot of forums, trying to find a similar problem, and while I couldn't find anyone with the same thing, it seems like a lot of other XFX and 6600 users in general are having hardware problems. Is it likely I just got a defected card sent to me? I also thought about my power supply, since I know power is an issue with the new generations of nVidia cards, but I have a 420w RAIDMAX power supply, which I'm pretty sure should be enough. And if it was a problem with juice, I would think the card would at least load properly, it just wouldn't run to its fullest. My other specs: Abit KV8 Pro motherboard AMD 64 3000+ 2x 3200 GeiL RAM 420w RAIDMAX psu I hope someone can help, thanks.

Whenever ive seen similar things before its either incompatible hardware, or - and more likely - a dead card. When graphics cards are failing garbled text and funny coloured lines on screen are common. Try in another machine if possible, otherwise exchange it.

Thanks for the reply. That's what people on most forums I've posted on are saying to do. I guess I will just return it. It's quite disappointing though, I was looking forward to getting it all weekend, now I gotta send it back. I wish I had another PC to test it with, but I honestly don't think the problem is with my power supply or anything like that. In all the problems I've read about concerning power, the card worked normally, just at low speeds, or it would freeze up, but nothing like what I described. And I'm pretty positive the card is compatible with my mobo and all that. Anyway, thanks again *sighhh*