Major issues Sapphire x1950Pro AGP on Enermax Liberty 620

JackBrussel

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Jan 15, 2007
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Gents,

Here is my story; I bought a Sapphire x1950pro to replace my HIS 9800pro. The reason is that I broke one of the resistors of the card, while replacing a psu that had blown the day before. I did manage to solder the resistor on my 9800 again, and it is now hanging from two copper threads because you actually cannot fit it on the card anymore >> Let loose the artifacts monster!

Anyway, the new psu (sharkoon), couldn't take load of my new x1950pro. That's why I bought an even newer psu, namely the Enermax Liberty 620 This baby sure meets the requirements of the card and even gives plenty of headroom (620w/12v@36a, required is 450w/12v@30a). So here I am, buying and installing a new psu, breaking my 9800pro in the process, therefore buying an x1950pro and having to buy yet another psu because I didn't have enough juice. AND? Did it solve the issue > No, troubleshooting with your Xmas bonus is a no go :wink:

So:
After installing the card and booting my machine, the image shown by the card is totally disrupted. This goes for the image shown at the POST, in the BIOS, in Dos, Linux x.x and in w32.

Details:
@POST: The chars shown at the post are not readable (they are either split in two, or partly displayed)
@BIOS: There are a lot of different colors displayed, the text again not readable and seems to switch form upon selecting it, there are DOS smiley faces spread around the screen;
@DOS: Similar to the image in POST;
@W32: Horizontal and vertical partly broken stripes in different colors are randomly aligned throughout the screen and the image is far from sharp. Sometimes the screen goes pitch black and there are a few white squares displayed a bit bottom right from the center;

Furthermore, my system is not always able to boot to Windows. I also hear the cooler accelerating at post before slowing down. This is repeated in Windows several times.

What I already did:
@BIOS: Adjust AGP aperture size 64/128/256;
@BIOS: Adjust AGP 8x (v0.8) to AGP 4x (1.5v) and back;
@BIOS: AGP freq. left unchanged @66mhz, AGP spread spectrum is disabled.

Other details:
*Nothing in this system is overclocked (anymore);
*Mobo and cpu temperature are 32c and 48c at full load;
*The card is still very cool (cannot measure temperature, but approx. 15-25c).

I have no clue where to look now. I appreciate any help you can give me.
_____________________________________________________________
System specs:
AthlonXP Barton 2800@2438mhz | Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe | 2x 512mb Crucial Ballistix pc3200@432mhz 2-2-2-4 | Sapphire x1950pro AGP | Samsung Syncmaster 959NF | SB Audigy 2 ZS | Maxtor Diamondmax 10 Sata, WD 800JB Caviar | IBM DTLA305030 | Aopen DVD 16/48AAP | LiteOn CDRW 32123S | Sitecom WL-151 | Saitek p3000 Wireless | Logitech MX1000 | Antec Sonata Enermax | ELT620AWT Liberty 620
 

blade85

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Sep 19, 2006
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usually that sort of display means your card is messed. Was it working fine with the original PSU?

You could try plugging ur old PSU back to make sure its not the PSU. If you get the same result, then your card is definitely busted and will need to be replaced. I hope its on warranty.
 

JackBrussel

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Jan 15, 2007
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usually that sort of display means your card is messed. Was it working fine with the original PSU?

You could try plugging ur old PSU back to make sure its not the PSU. If you get the same result, then your card is definitely busted and will need to be replaced. I hope its on warranty.

@blade85
I changed my initial post a bit, because I was not very clear on the psu subject. In short; it didn't work with the old psu, because there wasn't enough sustained power. Required is 450w/12v@30a, I got 450w/12v@26a. The Enermax surely solved this problem (amongst other things like now having to eat cornflakes with water because it is shit expensive), but still a no go. Not even an improvement.

I think this baby is DOA and so I have to RMA in order to be OK :D

@bjmarler
Thx m8, I am however posting on the Sapphire forum and they don't seem to have the answers.
 

JackBrussel

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Jan 15, 2007
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Have the same guess. Well, I am going to test the card first in another computer on friday. If that still doesn't work, it's RMA time.

Too bad, I bought this card just to be able to play WOW The burning crusade ;)
 

Vokofpolisiekar

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Feb 5, 2006
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Just remember though that up until Windows boots in, the gcard is at the mercy of generic VGA drivers. So either the generic driver is buggered, or the gcard response to the driver is buggered - buggered meaning none to do about it.

My X1800XL did the same with Windows load screen and what ever graphic was shown on boot - this was on an Abit board though, and upon replacing the card with a X1900 the graphics were okay again on pre load/post. So I presume the gcard didn't like the generic driver input, or was inadequate in processing it.