I believe I have fried my video card 1

[LordPie]

I recently orderd and built a computer, and it has been running great since I got it assembled, however I'm worried I may have just severely damaged it. I had installed the video card with it's stock heat sink and fan, but I had a zalman VF700 that I planned on putting on it once I found out if it was working correctly. Once I did and had installed windows, I turned off the computer and unplugged it from the wall and opened the case. I unplugged the PCI-E connector from the video card, and unscrewed it from the expansion bay so I could lift it out...

Here's where it went bad, the Pci-e x16 slot had a hitch on the back end to secure the card in place, as I was lifting the card out this refused to open, with it still holding the back end of the card in place and me pulling on the bracket that screws down to the expansion bay, the card went up un-evenly and the rear touched my motherboard, making a loud shocking noise. Immediately after this happened I put it back in place and powered on the computer to see if it still worked. It POSTed and started to boot, but little to my surprise I was seeing some visual artifacts, like blinking white lines across the screen. As I finally got to windows expecting the worst, as soon as I was in the arctifacting stopped... There was nothing, I even opened up a game (team fortress 2) and ran it perfectly fine as if nothing was wrong!

I then rebooted the computer to see if the artifacting was just a fluke... but no I got the same errors again, but as soon as I get to windows they stop. No problems whatsoever. What does this mean? Should I try to return the card? Is it possibly ok? Is it going to die soon? It's still under warranty for a free replacement. I know that the artificating on boot is due to whatever damage the videocard got from the shock, because when I put in my old card and booted windows there were none. What is worrying me though is what could have happened on the other end of that shock... the motherboard. How would I be able to find out if it recieved any damage? It seems to be working fine... no boot problems or anything, but I want to be 100% sure before I try to get the video card replaced.

If you can help me in any way with this, I will be VERY grateful..

 

[wahnula]

First, the zap. Most likely ESD, electrcostatic discharge, simply explained here:

http://www.pcguide.com/byop/byop_ElectrostaticDischargeESD.htm

It appears you've done some damage to the card at a low level, visible only under boot as the Windows drivers have not yet entered the picture. Once they do, everything seems fine. You can reset the BIOS by removing the battery, and waiting 5-10 minutes before replacing it. See if the problems persist, but I believe they will as the alternate card works fine.

I would think seriously about returning the card for replacement. You will have to look to your inner ethics as to whether to divulge the ZAP to the RMA folks or not. This problem could possibly be only an annoyance, but as the article states ESD can sometimes take weeks or months to finish off their components. Best of luck.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[LordPie]

Thanks for that link, it seems like that's what happened. I put the videocard through some torture, and none of my games are running any worse, and I can't see any artifacting even when it's hot, so I'm guessing like you said once the drivers kick in they disappear. I called the company I orderd this from and told them what happened, and they said they will agree to give me a replacement, so I think i'm gonna be sending this one off later today just to be safe.

My last worry though is still my motherboard, I made a crude picture showing how it happened, and where on the motherboard it was touched. The IDE is at a 90 degree angle to the board, so the metal wires that connect it to the motherboard are exposed. Those are I believe what the card came into contact with. I have no way to test it though as I don't use any IDE devices, or have any. Also, my mobo's LED are normal aswell, not showing any errors (that they can see)

What would be a good way to test the motherboard?

 

[wahnula]

LordPie,

The fact that the different card worked fine pretty much eliminates the motherboard from the equation, at least for now. No sense worrying about it, the damage, if any, has already been done and may or may not manifest itself later.

Worrying about it does no good, and there are so many components in a motherboard it would be hard to say what damage may have occurred and which component you should test. I say live in denial until there's a problem

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[LordPie]

I guess you're right, thanks a lot for the advice. If I think about it, it's not so bad if the 79$ motherboard fails sometime down the road, as long as the 200$ videocard is getting replaced.

Time to spend a week back on my old 7600GT

Cheers!

 

[burtsbees]

One thing to keep in mind---motherboards usually shunt esd to ground from pci/agp slots, as well as other components (IDE/SATA/SAS/SCSI, RAM, etc). Also, ...
"the card went up un-evenly and the rear touched my motherboard, making a loud shocking noise"
I would say you discharged a capacitor on the back of the video card (both + and_ leads on the bottom of a cap being shorted, like both touching metal at the same time)---it had recently had power to it, and esd generally does not make a loud shocking noise---discharging a cap usually does make a "POP!" The resulting arc possibly damaged something---I would say the main LOGIC IC took a hit...

Burt

 

[LordPie2]

Well, got some bad news. I got the new video card monday, installed it, and the same problem came back. It looks like the damage was to the motherboard after all.

My 'uneducated' guess as to why the back-up card didn't show the artifacts was because it uses less power... Maybe it doesn't stress the PCI-E slot as much? The card that has the problems is a ATI HD3870 and the card that didn't get them was a 7600GT. Maybe someone could shed some light on this? I'm curious is all, i'm sure it's still hopeless.

Anyway, I'm gonna just go ahead and use it untill it dies. My window to exchange the board from the OEM i got it from is gone, so i'd have to contact biostar which may or may not be a nightmare. I guess heres my reason to change over to an intel cpu/board, time to start saving some cash.

On a side note, instead of dropping another thread in here i'll just ask: is an x38 my best option for a crossfire compatible lga775 board? I'd rather just buy another hd3870 in the future if I need some more video power instead of getting some expensive one, and it's dropped to 159$ right now.

 

[wahnula]

Lordpie

Before you buy that new M/B what are the specs of your PSU? The HD3870 is PCI-e 2.0, which allows the card to draw more power from the PCI-e bus. Also, is your M/B PCI-e 2.0 compliant? If not the card gets the extra power from the PSU.

Most components have a one-year warranty, but only through the maker, not the reseller.

For a new MB, check out the X48 chipset.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[LordPie2]

Yeah, the mobo is PCI-E 2.0 compliant. Here's some links to the components in question:

PSU -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052

Mobo -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138102

Card -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102719

I'm fairly sure the PSU has enough juice for this card, my brother in law has a nearly identical setup and it works fine, only his is probably drawing more power since he has an amd64x2 5000+ and 4gigs of ram vs. my x2 4800+ and 2gigs. I'm pretty sure whatever is wrong is due to my mishap.

 

[BadBigBen]

first thing I would do, is to update the BIOS...

and looking at the gfx card, tells me that it draws the main power from the PSU directly... hint: small black PCI-E connector in the upper right corner of the card....



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."