XFX 8800 GT 512 mb Alpha Dog Edition problem

Mongoose333

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Aug 19, 2011
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18,510
Hello,
I am not sure what the deal is with this card, but yesterday the puter crashed, which is in itself odd, cause this hasn't crashed since I built it around 2 yrs ago.

But after the crash, words/letters were missing on the bootup and there was also blue/yellow vertical lines on the screen in random places, then it was giving me a blue screen with alot of missing txt. but I made out that the problem was the NV4 display driver, I had the most current driver installed for it, and make it a habit to keep it up to date. Anyhow, it said it was in an infinite loop and would not start. So I was able to go in Windows in safe mode and uninstall the driver and it didnt help. I took out the card several times and semi disassembled it and cleaned it and saw no visible problems with it, even looked at most of the circuitry with a magnifier and see nothing. Could someone please advise me as what the deal is? is it dead? I mean after I uninstalled the driver, it quit getting stuck in the loop and would go into windows, but the lines and pre-windows fubared text was still there. only other weird thing that happened with all this, is my onboard ethernet connection disappeared, so I took out the 8800 GT for now and threw in a very old Pny and an ethernet card so I could get online to try and solve this issue.

I would hate to have to trash this card right now, the pc isn't and hasn't been my gaming source, so it hasn't been working hard for over a year, just my wifes light light gaming on FB and other little games. The temps have always been the same and usually sat at or between 75c and 77c,.

Would appreciate any help with this, just need to know if someone thinks this card is done or salvageable or what? I am no tech just a old gamer that has built a few gaming puters via help.

Thank You.

Sincerely,
Kenny
 
Try cleaning out the card but chances are that you have waited to long to save it. A 5670 or a second hand 8800/9800gt are easy to come by. I don't like the coolers that xfx was known to use compared to reference style coolers and even those took a little to keep clean. Always clean your coolers at least once a month to two months.

Modern 5670/gt440
Second hand but cheap 8800/9800gt
 

Mongoose333

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Aug 19, 2011
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18,510
Yeah, It really didn't need cleaning, as to all the filters on these fans but I keep it clean regularly. I took the metal fan cover off too and cleaned it all as well. I try and take good care of the whole setup.

All in all the card still looks brand new.


Thanks
Sincerely,
Mongoose333
 

Mongoose333

Distinguished
Aug 19, 2011
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18,510
I am going to try the bake trick per a friend of mine from another site, he also holds/held/(not sure of current records) of oc'ing gpu world records, he is gonna send me a few other cards he has to spare, so I feel, by what I have read and learned today about artifact's I have nothing to lose.

My first time here on this forum so forgive my ignorance and ty for all the help.

Sincerely,
mongoose333
 

Mongoose333

Distinguished
Aug 19, 2011
9
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18,510
took it apart last night after I talked to that friend on FB as he said it was "Either a temp problem or just gone" , so I took it apart to prep it for a bake today and whoever did the thermal paste on this did the worst I had seen, the paste is all over the circuitry around the proc. could this have caused these artifact's? I haven't had a chance to talk back at him since I found this paste everywhere.


Thanks for the help.

Sincerely,
mongoose333