Problems with ATI Radeon™ X550 PICE 256MB 1

[jaywalk101]

Hey guys. I just purchased a Diamond Express X550 from Ebay and I'm having trouble getting it to work. After inserting the card, as soon as the system tries to post I get weird corrupt blocky image pixels that come up. Once it tries to post the second time, the pixels change again and the system will not boot and becomes unresponsive. I do have onboard video, and I've tried disabling it. The card says it required 420W of Power Supply, I have 450. My MB is an ECS Elite Group K8M980M-M and I've tried on many different monitors. I don't have DVI but I did try displaying it in S-Video and it did the same thing. Should I upgrade my power supply? Thanks in advance guys.

David Crain

 

[ski]

Make sure its cooling fan is running, it's fully seated, its fan and heatsink do not have any dust coating, and a previous video card was installed then remove it from Device Manager and uninstall its software.
If those do not help, then see if it works in another system, or if another card works in yours. If no to the former, or yes to the latter, then the card may be bad.

 

[jaywalk101]

I want to test it out on another machine but I don't have another board with PCIe, and I don't know anybody who has one either. Hmm.. How much do you think a computer shop would charge to test out your own equipment??? Anyways. I'm just going to wait and call tech support tomorrow while at work.. Anybody got any other ideas? Thanks....

 

[ski]

Call them for an estimate. The charge for testing the card should not be that much.

 

[jaywalk101]

Yeah, I called a local shop in town. Their asking 40 dollars to check out my card. I can get a MB for that price!! So I went ahead and purchased a Biostar for 29.00 on Newegg.. I'll post the results in a few days. Whether it's my video card or my board.

 

[paparazi]

I take it the card was second hand? (ebay)
Certainly sounds as though the card is Knackered.
Pixelated image rendouring is a common symptom of an overheated/overclocked and so damaged graphics processor.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[jaywalk101]

No. It was a new card. So that's why I'm not sure whether it's a reject or my board. I just got my new MB today and it doesn't have onboard video. So I'll post the results on Monday. Thanks everyone for the suggestions though.

 

[jaywalk101]

yep you were right paparazi, it was the card. Now I gotta see about getting a replacement..