My Nvidia just died!

[WINDSHEAR]

It just died! I can't believe it and my eyes are already hurting from this flickering screen.

Is there anything I can do to fix it? It's an Nvidia Geforce FX5500 256MB DDR RAMDAC. I have no clue why it died. Just all of a sudden my screen went blank, and the monitor went to standby, as if I had just shut my computer off (receiving no signal), but the computer was still running. So I hit the restart button, the computer restarts, beeps, keyboard flashes, and then it just sits there, powered on, not doing anything, screen blank, still no signal. Long story short, I just switched the monitor cable from the card to the onboard video system it came with, and it works. I don't know what I can do to help it. I bought this card about 3 months ago, or maybe it was 4. I thought graphics cards lasted longer than that... :roll:

 

[Lan]

When you boot up, it is only one beep? Or is there multiple beeps? Make sure you check the connection from the monitor into the computer just in case it came lose from your feet or something.

Also have you tried disabling the on board video and rebooting?

If none of the above works, try cleaning the card and inside of the case with a can of compressed air, and taking the card all the way out and reseating it.

Also, what were you doing when it happened? And post the rest of your computer stats including the Power Supply.

 

[uber_g]

u might need to buy a new video card , i know it sux but i think it will be worth it

another thing , u try taking off the heatsink cleaning it and re-apply some thermal paste ..... be shure it aint dusty n stuff

 

[WINDSHEAR]

When you boot up, it is only one beep? Or is there multiple beeps? Make sure you check the connection from the monitor into the computer just in case it came lose from your feet or something.

Also have you tried disabling the on board video and rebooting?

If none of the above works, try cleaning the card and inside of the case with a can of compressed air, and taking the card all the way out and reseating it.

Also, what were you doing when it happened? And post the rest of your computer stats including the Power Supply.

thanks... when I boot up with the monitor cable plugged into the card... one beep, and that's it, just like normal. I can then pull the plug and put it in the mobo slot, and see the BIOS. The way this card was installed was by unplugging the monitor cable, turning the PSU switch off but leaving it plugged in, putting card in slot, screwing it in, plugging monitor cable in, turning on PSU switch, and then booting up, and installing Nvidia drivers in Windows, then restarting. After that, you're all set to go. Those were the instructions that came with it, and I followed it to the letter, including a bunch of grounding stuff... touching metal parts of the case etc. Anyways, I was just sitting here on Firefox and MSN typing a message to a friend when suddenly the screen goes blank, like there's no signal (because there is no signal), but the computer is still on. I can see the light at the bottom of the case. I just restart... nothing happens. Clear CMOS, restart, nothing happens. Plug cable into motherboard video slot, and it works. Plug it back into the card, nothing. Totally dead. Hopeless.
oh and there was a slight distortion of the screen just before the screen went blank.

System is:
Jetway PM800BMS LGA775 motherboard
Intel 530J HTT 3.0Ghz overclocked to 3.3Ghz
512MB Mushkin Enhanced PC3500 DDR434 @ DDR444, timings 2-4-4-8, @ 2.8volts.
Western Digital 7200RPM 80GB HDD SATA/RAID0.
DVD-/+/R/RW/DL +R 2.4x write/DVD-RAM.

And no, it is not a problem with anything else. It is all working fine, except for the graphics card.

 

[perz]

Probably your little fan on it isent working properly.

 

[MasterLee]

It sounds like you're running on board video and a video card.Most systems don't like that, you may want to go into the BIOS and disable the onboard, unistall your drivers, both, then install the 5500.

 

[MasterLee]

And check your heatsink / fan like they said too, but disable the onboard.

 

[fainis]

try another video card from a friend ..if the problem remains.....it`s a tricky problem...if not you have a dead fx5500 :lol:

 

[Lan]

Did you try cleaning the card, and then re-seating it? Try that, but MAKE SURE you go into the BIOS and disable the onboard video. Having that enabled while you have a seperate video card in can be a cause for many fustrating problems.

If that doesn't work, see if you can find a different card to put in and see if that one works. If the different card does work than it looks like you might need a new video card. If the different card doesn't work, than it looks like your MotherBoard is screwed.

It may not matter that much but you didn't list your power supply's Make/model/power output either.

 

[gomerpile]

This once happened to me on a new system I got I plugged everything in and blank screen,I phoned the company and they said check the cable that plugs in the vcard so I did everything seemed fine tried again and the same thing so I unpluged the monitor cable again and took a closer look and sure enough one pin was bent.

 

[WINDSHEAR]

Did you try cleaning the card, and then re-seating it? Try that, but MAKE SURE you go into the BIOS and disable the onboard video. Having that enabled while you have a seperate video card in can be a cause for many fustrating problems.

If that doesn't work, see if you can find a different card to put in and see if that one works. If the different card does work than it looks like you might need a new video card. If the different card doesn't work, than it looks like your MotherBoard is screwed.

It may not matter that much but you didn't list your power supply's Make/model/power output either.

ok, last night before I posted the second time, I tried cleaning it, and re-seating it. Nothing happened... what I'm thinking of trying this time is taking off the heatsink and cleaning that. btw, the fan on it was spinning alright (I watched it spin after trying to boot), but I noticed it was quite dusty. I cleaned all the dust off the fan and the heatsink as I said. But it made no difference. Problem is I don't know how to take the heatsink off... :?

This morning, I thought of the possibility that it was part of the motherboard, such as the AGP slot that went... not the graphics card. That's a scary possibility. Only way to find out is to put another graphics card in. Problem is, I don't have a spare, and nobody else has one either. Just ancient junk like ATI Rage 2x AGP etc...

yes, when I start up, the fan spins on the graphics card... screen remains blank. Does that yield any clues?

PSU is 350Watt TigerPro. According to a calculator, all my components combined with the CPU add up to roughly 280Watts usage, so that shouldn't be the problem.

 

[WINDSHEAR]

This once happened to me on a new system I got I plugged everything in and blank screen,I phoned the company and they said check the cable that plugs in the vcard so I did everything seemed fine tried again and the same thing so I unpluged the monitor cable again and took a closer look and sure enough one pin was bent.

well, since long before I had this card, there was a pin missing in the monitor cable... i think. It works fine in the onboard system anyways... so it should work on the card. Worked before... I should try making a copper pin....

 

[Lan]

...Just ancient junk like ATI Rage 2x AGP etc...

That's okay. If you know the card works that's all you need. It doesn't need to be an awesome card, just something you can do some testing with, as long as your MoBo would support a 2x AGP card anyway.

Try and find a way to test your video card and MoBo and let us know what happens.

 

[gomerpile]

yes that is a good thing also try a crappy monitor

 

[WINDSHEAR]

...Just ancient junk like ATI Rage 2x AGP etc...

That's okay. If you know the card works that's all you need. It doesn't need to be an awesome card, just something you can do some testing with, as long as your MoBo would support a 2x AGP card anyway.

Try and find a way to test your video card and MoBo and let us know what happens.

problem is,... it's buried in an ancient piece of junk that we never use... under a monitor and a hundred and one cables and a pile of papers... yes, that desk is a mess!

oh well, I'll have to find some way. thanks guys

 

[MasterLee]

You said nothing about the onboard video being disabled, you really need to get into the BIOS and do that or you'll never get to the bottom of your problem.
NO.....you can't run SLI with an onboard card and an AGP card.

 

[mitch074]

And SLI with Geforce 6150 chipset and Geforce 6600 in PCI-E port?

Back to the problem: aren't those cards under warranty for a year?

 

[WINDSHEAR]

You said nothing about the onboard video being disabled, you really need to get into the BIOS and do that or you'll never get to the bottom of your problem.
NO.....you can't run SLI with an onboard card and an AGP card.

I didn't think you could run SLI that way lol... I don't see any options on the BIOS for that... but I will look. I will also try cleaning the golden pin connectors.

I also believe that my mobo doesn't support AGP 2x.... not that I'd want it to either it supports AGP 4x/8x.

 

[WINDSHEAR]

And SLI with Geforce 6150 chipset and Geforce 6600 in PCI-E port?

Back to the problem: aren't those cards under warranty for a year?

thanks a lot man, since you mentioned that, I checked it out with my seller, and it seems they offer a RMA! Even after this long, I can still return it under warranty. B)