Radeon 9800 Pro problem

[HMHB]

I've just fitted this card into my games computer and the display looks awful. It has all weird characters all over the screen and when I go into BIOS only every other line is displayed. I've not gone into XP and loaded the drivers yet as I can't see any point if the card doesn't display properly.
Any ideas please ?

 

[MuFu]

Try reseating the card - in fact, first try wiggling it around a bit while the PC is actually on. You might find the artifacts change a bit.

You could try upping the AGP voltage as well but there's a fair chance it's a duff board.

MuFu.

 

[HMHB]

Why doesn't anything I buy ever work
I've put the old card back in for the time being as re-seating it wouldn't make any difference. I did notice that the box it came in (from Crucial) was a little dented on one end and the courier bag was a little scuffed - so maybe some cackhanded git has thrown it about in the back of his van for a while.
I'm just wondering whether it could be a motherboard problem - although I do have the latest BIOS etc.

 

[InsertNameHere]

Let me guess? Its a Sapphire right?

If you head over to their forums (http://www.sapphiretech.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=1), you'll see you're not alone mate. In fact I have the same problem with my card - a Sapphire 9800 Pro card. This is the thread I created on it --> http://www.sapphiretech.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1830&SearchTerms=Radeon (and a similar one over on the Rage3D forums --> http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=33726980). Have a read through that and see if you can relate to any of it. I don't think I have anything more to add, except this problem is still occuring (although it does seem to be limited to a couple of times a week now). Also, I still haven't received the updated BIOS file which I was promised. I guess I should drop Ray another note...

Alex

 

[HMHB]

It's a Crucial card - but I will have a look at the threads.

 

[MuFu]

Alex, something like this?

Do you use DVI? If so, check your leads and connections. It's almost certainly not a memory or VPU problem - errors before and including the framebuffer stage can't really look like that.

Edit - try another monitor if you can.

MuFu.

 

[InsertNameHere]

No mate, similar to this --> http://www.squeakfix.co.uk/examples/corruption.JPG (but the corruption is normally in shades of green, blue or pink...)

Sorry I can't provide you with an actual screen shot - I don't know where I'd upload it to.

Alex

 

[HMHB]

I can't even get into windows now to do a screenshot. On the boot up screens it just fills the screen with crap, so you can't really see whats happening

 

[MuFu]

Try it in the computer you're on now perhaps?

MuFu.

 

[InsertNameHere]

MuFu -> Sorry, I missed the second part of your post…

No I'm not using the DVI connector. I'm looking at a 19" CRT monitor as we speak. Changing the monitor isn't something I thought of. Mind you, it worked fine with my old GeForce card, so I wouldn't expect it to behave any differently with the Radeon card. What do you think?

John -> the BIOS corruption you refer to seems similar to what I get anyway. I sometimes get obscure characters appearing during boot - and when things are really screwed, they start flashing too.

Incidentally, what is the make and rating of your power supply?

Alex

 

[MuFu]

Do you have the DVI-VGA adapter dongle? Try using that and the other output if you aren't already. Vertical lines are usually indicative of a problem at or after the DAC stage - you can sometimes get the same sort of effect by pulling out a VGA cable slightly, hence me thinking it might be a dodgy connection somewhere.

That problem pictured above was caused by accidentally yanking the DVI cable. I can't remember whether it was part of the same issue or not, but I got vertical lines through icons at one point (desktop and quick launch) - sounds a little like what you described on rage3d. I'll rack my brains and try and remember exactly what caused it.

MuFu.

 

[HMHB]

My power supply is an antec truepower 330. I do have quite a lot of stuff packed into the case - 3 hard disks, 1 dvd-rom, 1 dvd-rw audigy + drive bay extra powered front facing usb ports.

 

[HMHB]

I've just tried it in another computer and get the same problem - so it must be a duff card. I think I'll go for a refund - I'm fed up with it