HELP..Gigabyte 8800 GT Problem "No signal Detected"

[avatar_raq]

Few months ago I purchased a Gigabyte 8800 GT 512mb, the one factory overclocked to 700-1720-920 mhz and cooled by Zalman. In the first day after my purchase the card began to "turn off" frequently while playing games (especially the relatively old ones) and the monitor displayed "NO SIGNAL DETECTED"..It happens frequently and sometimes with the system hanging and the sound repeating itself..Manually restarting the system by pressing the reset key on my case leads to the "NO VGA Detected" beeps of the mobo !!!..Restarting once again will solve the problem !!!

Games frequently affected: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Singles:triple Trouble, C&C Tiberium Wars among others..Personally I noticed that the lesser resource demanding the game is; the more likely the card will suddenly stop. The problem occured frequently in Dead Space, so I disabled the (vertical syncronization) to remove the FPS cap and enabled 16x anisotropic filtering and 16x antialiasing and the problem is no more! at least till now!!

 

[IH8U]

Download Rivatuner, and crank up the fan speed (sounds like your card is overheating). Due to overheating frequently you could have burned it out (or the heatsink could have loosened during shipping). Secondly download new drivers (there were some stability issues with nForce drivers and Vista)

 

[avatar_raq]

I tried posting a question at Gigabyte's support centre. The only solutions they gave me are: Changing my PSU and RMA. RMA is not an option with the poor customer service in my country (Iraq) so I replaced my PSU with an expensive 500 watt one..And guess what? it didn't solve the problem!!!
I tried every driver version nVIDIA released, with no benefit. I read-across the internet-that other people are suffering from the same problem with that same model and one of the suggested causes was that the factory overclocking is not stable, so I used Rivatuner to reset the card to nVIDIA's default of 600-1500-900 mhz, but again with no benefit..And I'm pretty sure that it isn't overheating since I always watch the temps (even during gaming, thanks to rivatuner) and they never exceeded the normal range.

So pleeeeeeeeeeeease CAN ANYONE HELP ME? I'm frustrated to see the card that costed $290 (yes this is the price in my country & thare is no Net Shopping!!) cannot play Oblivion without turning off every 30 to 60 minutes...HELP!!! SOS!!

 

[avatar_raq]

Thanks IH8U for your kindness and quick response...I tried maxing the fan duty cycle to 100% with no benefit..Any other ideas??

 

[avatar_raq]

The problem occured in Win XP SP2 32 bit, Win Vista Ultimate SP1 32 & 64 bit.
Can increasing the card voltage from 1.1v to 1.2v (using a utility offered by Gigabyte called Gamer HUD) solve the problem? Is it safe? I didn't try this.
The other thing I didn't try is to flash a new BIOS, because it's too risky and I don't have another GFX if things went bad. Can it be of value regarding my problem? Is it worth the risk?

 

[avatar_raq]

And I'm sure it isn't because of the CPU-Mobo-RAM overclocking since the problem started to occur long before I learned anything anout overclocking the FSB.
Some people suggested it's because the RAM chips in this card are left naked and they are overheating, so again I added an aftermarket heatsinks over them....Again NO BENEFIT !!!!!!

 

[Jim_L9]

Do you get errors in event viewer?

 

[avatar_raq]

Event viewer? Do you mean that of rivatuner or what?

 

[knotknut]

Try removing and reinstalling the Video Card. Inspect the contacts on the card and MB while its out. If you have electrical contact cleaner or Isopropyl Alcohol clean the contacts also while out. Use a different Plug from the PSU, if avaiable. Make sure the GPU cooling fan is turning and securely pluged in.

What are your power supply specs. ?

 

[avatar_raq]

*Inspection of the contacts reveals nothing abnormal..I tried to reinstall the card but I didn't clean the contacts though..Worth trying..Thanks
*The fan (Zalman VF-700alcu) is completely normal and functioning.
*I tried the 2 PCI-E plugs of my PSU and tried using 1 and 2 molex plugs with the bundled adaptor but no difference.
*My PSU: FSP-Group Blue Storm II 500 Watt with two 12v rails each with 18A.....According to nVIDIA this should be enouph..Or not?

 

[Cranky1970]

I have that same card and it happened to me for a bit , until i updated the drivers. Also, i uses a Zalman 900cu that i had laying around and used some nice Enzotech ramsinks. That helped lower my temps big time.

 

[avatar_raq]

I tried all the new releases of nVIDIA drivers..Cranky I think it was not hte new drivers that solved the poblem, it was you stopping playing the games during which the problem manifested. What do you think? Go back to the same games and try for yourself.

 

[Jim_L9]

In Windows XP it is under Control Panel -> Administrative Tools. You would then click on the System Log and look for error related to the video card driver.

 

[avatar_raq]

I spent about 10 minutes quickly checking the event viewer and it seems clear of any errors or warnings related to hardware or games software, but its full of other errors that I poorly understand...Is there something in particular I should be looking for?

 

[Jim_L9]

Errors with driver files like nv*.sys or something similar to that.

 

[knotknut]

You have tried many drivers. Have you totally removed the old drivers before installing the new ones? Are there any ATI drivers installed.

What I would do is Down Load the latest Nvidia driver> save to desk top.
Down Load Driver Cleaner and install. (one of many available programs)
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745
Remove Nvidia Video driver from Control Panel>add & remove programs.
Remove ATI CCC if any.
Open Driver Cleaner select Nvidia Video and ATI Video drivers and run program.
Install new Nvidia Driver that you down Loaded and a saved to desk top.

Edit: available

 

[knotknut]

Another program

Driver Sweeper
http://www.phyxion.net/downloads.html

 

[avatar_raq]

Thanks for you all.....I have never installed an ATI Radeon card...I always use "Driver Cleaner Pro" in safe mode before intalling any new version of nVIDIA drivers...I frequently intalled fresh versions of windows XP and Vista 32 & 64 bit..It never helped

 

[avatar_raq]

Regarding the event viewer I'm not at home now and I can't check it..I'm at work (on duty). I'll check it tomorrow. Tomorrow I may need your help so please keep checking this forum.

 

[chimpokomon]

Hi,

I am interested on your problem because i am having the same at this moment =S I have the Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT 512MB Ultra Durable 2 Yesterday my screen turned black around 4 times in less than one hour... I had to reset my pc like You. I dont understand what could be wrong. I have a Pc with MB Intel DP35DP, Intel Core Quad Q6600 and 2*2GB RAM.

If You have some clue to fix the problem I would be very grateful...

 

[avatar_raq]

Hi,

I am interested on your problem because i am having the same at this moment =S I have the Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT 512MB Ultra Durable 2 Yesterday my screen turned black around 4 times in less than one hour... I had to reset my pc like You. I dont understand what could be wrong. I have a Pc with MB Intel DP35DP, Intel Core Quad Q6600 and 2*2GB RAM.

If You have some clue to fix the problem I would be very grateful...

Having a P35 mobo like me hints that the problem is something about incompatibility.. perhaps!..Can you try it on another mobo?I don't have any.
As I said in my previous threads in this forum the problem occurs in non-demanding games (except Oblivion which is very demanding when maxed out) so it could be a faulty power management in this card, as if it is trying to shut down some unneeded parts of the GPU, but instead it shuts down the whole GPU..Supporting this is the fact it stopped to turn off in Dead Space after I forced 16x AA & 16x AF in nVIDIA control panel and disabled Vsync to remove the FPS cap (which is the refresh rate of my screen)
I know I'm not adding much to you, and I think there is only one thing that I did not try till now:updating the the VGA bios (you must have read about everything I tried so far above)
To update the VGA bios you first have to download the newest version from GIGA-BYTE website (be careful; see the type of memory chips used by your card by inspecting them-mine is QUIMONDA- and download the bios version specified for them), then using the nvFlash utility or the Giga-byte utility (the latter being included in the support CD of your card, browse the CD to find it, and the bundled manual contains instructions to use it) backup the current bios and flash a new one.
If this fails I'm afraid RMA is your only hope, cuz I tried so many things and they all disappointed me..On the other hand if you have any other ideas or solutions , I'll be glad to hear them.
Thanx

 

[avatar_raq]

Chimpokomon,below are my specs, compare them to yours to see is there are more things in common.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66 Ghz @ 3.60 Ghz 1.44v, cooled by Zalman CNPS 9500 LED @ 2700 rpm.....ASUS P5KSE P35 @ FSB 1800 Mhz, northbridge cooled by Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II @5000 rpm.....OCZ Reaper Heat Pipe Conduit PC2-8500 2*2Gb @1080 Mhz, 2.2v.....Gigabyte 8800 GT 512 Mb @ 700-1700-920 Mhz, cooled by Zalman.....Maxtor 160 Gb 7200 rpm HDD.....FSP-Group Blue Storm II 500 watt.....Modded cheap Discovery case with 4*80 mm fans, multi-colored LEDs and air ducts.....Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 x64.....Latest drivers & Direct X version installed

 

[avatar_raq]

Earlier this morning I tried increasing the voltage of my card using Gigabyte Gamer HUD, but it made the porblem appears sooner (one minute after starting Oblivion), suggesting relation to a voltage irregularity in the custom PCB design of gigabyte, the reference design cards do net suffer from the same problem. So now I'm trying playing Oblivion after lowering the voltage to the lowest possible, till now the card did not turn off but I had the display driver not responding once ; and I don't know if it's related to the undervoltage or the same old problem or neither of them..

 

[avatar_raq]

I tried the latest bios..With NO BENEFIT
How frustrating.
I read about other cards e.g 9600 GT, 9800 GTX and 8800GT from different vendors e.g XFX, ASUS having the same problem. The factor common to all the systems mentioned is having a mobo with PCI-e v1, so ti might be just an incompatibilty issue (unfortunately I don't have the resources to test my card on a PCI-e v2 mobo) or it could be faulty ram on these cards..I guess I'll never know
HELP!! Anyone!!

 

[Losti]

same problem here on a gainward 9800 gtx+ on a asus p5ql-e
the sad story: i bought a new computer because my old one ( an amd system with a 1950pro showed this problem and now my new system gives me the same problem.
The only thing i took over from the old system was the monitor ( benq fp93gx ) and the dvi cable