Graphics Card Spark

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 9, 2016

Put a Graphics Card in without power connector attached. It sparked. Spoke to someone they say its a blown capacitor. Dnt have LCD to test output. Seems legit?

maxwellmelon · Jun 9, 2016

was computer unplugged from wall? if not that is a bad habit to begin with as the motherboard always has power running though it even when system is not on if it is pluged into the wall.

where did it spark? it could have been static electricity which is just as bad.

rush21hit · Jun 9, 2016

Well, I had a HD4890 that for some reason one of its capacitor decided to fell off. Partly my fault when I clean the guts of my PC with my big hand. It was when its on 3rd year in my rig. Somehow the GPU still works.

You should test it on a compatible LCD. Keep finger crossed.

littleleo · Jun 9, 2016

I don't see how the card would spark unless it had a build up of static on it or you had a static build up and you caused the spark. That is why it is good to ground yourself before you go messing with stuff in your computer.

Do you see any damage on the VGA card from the spark?
Have you hooked a monitor to it to see if it functions?

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 13, 2016

littleleo :

I dnt see any visible damage but I dunno what I would be looking for. It sparked near the power connector for it where there is an area of capacitors. Cant test without monitor as mine is CRT and it has DVI connector

hang-the-9 · Jun 13, 2016

Jackrabbit69 :

Why did you even install the card when you don't have a monitor to run it on? The video card should run a CRT monitor just fine with a DVI to VGA adapter, every card I have seen that does not have a VGA port comes with one of those adapters.

Not sure what you are asking here though, if you don't know the card works or not, you need to find out.

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 13, 2016

The card was just lying around at the place I work. Yeah I need an adapter. Was just wondering if theres any chance it was still working after a spark like that. Also it once shut down my PC when I installed it while it was running

hang-the-9 · Jun 13, 2016

Jackrabbit69 :

Sure there is a chance. But just plugging it into a system randomly when you can't even connect it to a monitor and not using the power it needs is a very bad idea and at best would do nothing and at worse will burn out the PCIe slot or the motherboard. Would you eat a burger that you find sitting on a park bench without knowing how long it's been there or where it came from? That's pretty much doing the same thing you did.

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 13, 2016

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 13, 2016

The plan was to plug it in hook my monitor up to the onboard and see if its BIOS showed up. Or go into the BIOS and check there. Is that possible? When u are desperate u do crazy shit

hang-the-9 · Jun 13, 2016

Jackrabbit69 :

Many systems disable the onboard video when a video card is installed and if you are not running it with the power on, it won't be detected most likely or not even boot.

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 21, 2016

Well I tried the card using a VGA to VGA and VGA to display port cable and it didnt work. Possible a DVI cable will work?

hang-the-9 · Jun 21, 2016

Jackrabbit69 :

Don't know why DVI would work when the VGA ports would not, but there may be a chance the VGA port is broken but DVI is working. Try it and see.

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 22, 2016

Well both the one DVI and two display port ports not working. So I guess thats it.

littleleo · Jun 22, 2016

You loaded the drivers for it and made sure it was looking for it in the BIOS? Normally when you plug a VGA card in it automatically disables the on board video, but you can check it to make sure in this case.

Jackrabbit69 · Jun 25, 2016

I dunno if it loaded in the BIOS cause I cant see anything on screen and I cant load the driver for the same reason. Would I make a difference my old Nvidia drivers were installed and its a AMD card?

hang-the-9 · Jun 27, 2016

Jackrabbit69 :

If the card does not display anything on the BIOS screen, it would not have anything to do with the drivers. It's either a bad card or your system does not have the power to run it.

littleleo · Jun 27, 2016

Certainly sounds like the card is dead, here is hoping that spark didn't damage your motherboard too.

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