Stupid story about a video card fix

evvdcaec

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Apr 14, 2014
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Here’s something amusing that just happened to me. I thought I’d share it.

My computer had been functioning fine, without modification, for about six months. A few days ago I had to exchange my stock CPU fan for a liquid cooling system. This change also meant that I had to change cases for one that could accommodate the 120mm fans on the radiator. After moving the system to its new case it wouldn’t POST (not a single beep). I reseated the RAM, it still wouldn’t POST. I then yanked out every card, disconnected all the cables, and reset the CMOS. I plugged in the 4pin and the 24pin, inserted one stick of RAM, and connected to the onboard video. I shorted the power-on pins and this time the computer passed POST. I put the rest of RAM back in and it passed again. I put the video card in and it wouldn’t POST.

Not wanting to believe that I had killed my video card I pulled it back out and put the RAM through several passes of Memtest86+. After the RAM passed I put another video card in the system and it tried to boot just fine. After a fit of swearing, and spitting on my anti-static wrist strap, I tried the ‘dead’ card in another system that was on my bench for repair and confirmed that the card was dead. Later that day I realized that the PSU in the other system was buggered and I swapped it out. Feeling optimistic, I tried my card again in the other system and I watched it boot into the OS. Amazing, my card still worked. I shoved it back into my system and, again, it wouldn’t even try to live.

So, at this point, here is what I knew. 1: The video card works in another system. 2: Other video cards work in my system. 3: The video card does not work in my system.

Here, I blamed the power supply in my system, thinking that the water pump and extra fan were taxing the PSU too much. I swapped the PSU for a much bigger one, it did not make a difference. Next I pulled all the RAM and threw in a new stick, no difference. I tried the one stick in all of the RAM slots, no difference. I, then, disconnected the water pump and fans leaving the computer in the same state it was in before I began frelling with it, and there was still no difference.

Then, I figured that it had been a fluke that the card worked in the other system and it really was dead, so I tried the card in a motherboard that was sitting on my bench with my power supply and my RAM and I watched it work just like it should have.

Looking at my card purring away on the bench I though that there must be a screw or a standoff poking the back of the board and shorting something out. I pulled my board out of its new case and set it up on the bench without the video card. It still worked. I put the card in, it wouldn’t do anything. I tried it with two different video cards, one that required an external 6pin power connection and one that did not. Both of the other cards worked fine.

I pulled the RAM and the video card again and connected a speaker. On power-on the computer beeped a RAM error. I put the video card in the slot without connecting the 6pin power plug. The computer beeped a RAM error. I connected the 6pin. The computer wouldn’t POST. I tried a different PSU. It still wouldn’t POST.

As a last resort I raised the front of the video card (that is the business end, which is at the back of the computer, furthest away from the clip on the PCI-E slot) about 1mm out of the slot. No POST. I raised it another 1mm. No POST. I raised it another 1mm, for a total of 3mm and it beeped a RAM error. At this point I could see the contact on the card sticking out of the slot but it was still ver much in the slot and the motherboard was looking for RAM. I plugged in a video cable and jammed a stick of RAM in and watched it pass the POST and say that it couldn’t find a boot device.

After putting it all back inside the case and leaving the card raised out 3mm at one end the computer works fine. I guess my old case was warped enough that it didn't let the card sit all the way in from the get-go and allowed it to work.


tl;dr lok @ dis pic of a stoopid fix

Here you can see my solution for setting the proper gap:
tJV2xmx.jpg
 

evvdcaec

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Apr 14, 2014
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Someone Somewhere is most likely dead-on. Because the card worked in other systems and other cards worked in this system I didn't think about dirty contacts but it's the only logical answer.

To answer your question, the card isn't out enough to impede contact with the slot, but it is out enough to bypass whatever crud has built up on the contacts themselves.
 

Avocade

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Apr 12, 2013
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Jesus, man kudos to your patience haha by the time you tried it in another computer and found it worked I would have thrown the damn thing at the wall and screamed "WHY" repeatedly till my wife had me committed...
 

evvdcaec

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Apr 14, 2014
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Compressed air didn't help. I just brushed on some isopropyl alcohol and I'll try to power it up tomorrow.

I just mocked up a computer again in my old case and it really is warped. This is how the video card must have sat for the past six months.
 

evvdcaec

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Apr 14, 2014
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This was the case that I originally bought for my Pentium III 1GHz so who knows what has happened to it over the years.

However, I can't find any kind of kink or stress point or place where it appears to be twisted. It just appears to be poorly made. The place where the cards screw on is too far away from the MB tray when compared to several other cases.