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Hello,
this evening my computer didn't start normally. The display went awry, horizontal and vertical lines, missing characters, abnormal characters, half characters, weird colors... in other words, a ghastly mess. The bootup process hardly got to the Windows Login screen until the screen was unreadable. I opened the case and vacuumed the dust away, but it didn't help.
I managed to start up in Safe Mode; the desktop was better, but there were some graphic skips and garbage every minute or so. After about ten minutes of surfing the web looking for an explanation (which was occasionally disturbed by some minor messy lines on the screen), I shut the computer down and took my 3yo graphics card (Geforce4 Ti 4600) out.
I unscrewed the graphics chip fan and found out it was stuck. Even generous amounts of CRC couldn't make the fan turn easily around its motor axle when rotated manually. It's as good as dead, that's for sure. Now it was also certain that the display trouble was caused by serious chip overheating!
MY PROBLEM IS, THEN: How can I know if the graphics card has damaged permanently? I have been thinking of getting a liquid cooling system to the tabletop for quite a while, but if the card is broken or seriously affected by what it went through this evening, it would be useless or at least stupid to go through all the installation trouble. If the card is no longer good, it would be better to buy a new card and install the liquid cooling on that one.
So is there any way to check or know if a graphics card has suffered (extensive) damage from graphics chip overheating? Please note that it functioned pretty well in Safe Mode (640x480 etc.) when there was not much calculation load. It seemed to be OK until it climbed to threshold temperature, made some fuzz and cooled off a bit again.
Any reasonable answers and accurate knowledge will be much appreciated.
Replace the fan, they are cheap. Then test the card. I doubt that it has been damaged.
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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Since the graphics problem was evident from a cold start the damage has already been done. The card is very likely dead. Do as ham30 suggests but be prepared to replace the whole card.
I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.
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I would have to agree with Richard...if the graphics problems starts immediately from a cold startup, chances are the damage has been done. It's relatively easy to resurrect a fan & it won't cost anything to try. All you need to do is clean it of any dust accumulation, then try working a little oil into the bearing. The bearing is usually accessable under a round label. Try pressing on the center of the label & you should be able to feel that there's an opening underneath. Carefully peel off the label (you have to reuse it), then drip a little oil into the opening & work the fan blade back & forth...it *should* eventually free up. Any type of household oil will do...motor oil, sewing machine oil, 3-in-1 oil, even cooking oil. I usually stick a toothpick in the oil, then let a couple of drops fall onto the bearing, then work the blade back & forth. You may have to do it a few times to get it to free up. What have you go to lose?
Otherwise, you might wanna think about replacing the card. The time of the Ti4600 has come & gone. BTW, liquid cooling is a waste of money, especially on such an old setup.
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I practically never disagree with Jam, but I don't believe in oiling fans. They normally don't last that long after you do that and you are taking a chance on more damage. Buy good ball bearing fans for your PC rather than the cheap ones. They don't cost that much more and last a lot longer.
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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Responding to Jam's recommendation of oils,
the use of which is a science.
Here in the UK experience has shown that 3in1 is a get you out of trouble product, but it does not last as it drys out.
True Singer sewing machine oil is far better.
Modern lubricants such as WD40 come somewhere in between for lasting, but offer a far better immediate solution.Good Luck - Keep us posted.
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i use wd40 to get it spinning freely and then small drop of engine oil (like i use in my car engine). only a small drop so there's no oil spraying out when fan running.
I would not use cooking oil as i believe it sometimes goes like gum after a lot of heat over time.
The hole where the oil goes is usually covered by a sticker - i admit sometimes hard to stick back on after peeling off.As regards the graphics card - test again from cold start - dont worry if there is no fan on it, as long as heatsink is still on, that will be good enough for cold start and booting into windows.
It does sound to me though that permanent damage has occurred
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Thanks everybody!
I tested again with a cold start, without a fan. During the memory test there were two characters lacking from the bottom of the screen and one was replaced with a wrong one. During the next screen (IDE device listing & system file processing) every second character was either missing or wrong -- totally incomprehensible jumble.
It's clear that my GF4 Ti 4600 is burnt to a crisp. That's a pity, the card served me really well these years. Even though my processor is far from fastest on the market, together they crunched the pixels of my favorite games so well that there was usually no lag at all. Even San Andreas was running reasonably well. (I was shocked to find out that my Compaq laptop ran the game faster than the aforementioned system, even though the laptop only has an onboard graphics chip, Ati Radeon Express x200i. I guess they have developed during the last few years as well. :))
Thanks for helping me out! For the next year or so, I'll have to manage with that old Voodoo3 2000 card I found from the closet. ;) My first graphics card, bought in 1998...
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