8800GT issues

[Deemo13]

Hey all,

So I am having an issue with my 8800GT on one of my spare rigs. I had to replace it with my (dismal) 9600GSO.

Anyway, here is the best description I can give of the problem. When I power on the rig, it all sounds good, everything starts. When the HP BIOS screen starts up though (its an old HP board) it looks distorted. There are organized large discolored pixels. Its sorta hard to explain. Anyway, it posts and starts, then the little Windows loading thing that looks like this:

Note: Not my actual computer.

It gets to about here, then the load thingy disappears, and it locks up. Upon restarting and going through it again, Windows kindly offers to launch startup repair, which helps using system restore. Then Windows installs the driver by itself (I don't know how to not get it to do that, kinda annoying). Then upon restarting, it locks up again. I have come to believe it is a driver issue.

The person I got it from, my good friend, thought it was broken. He had just upgraded from WinVista 32-bit to Win7 64-bit and it was having this issue. I told him I would have it and got him a GTX550Ti for his birthday. I took it, and fixed it by installing correct Nvidia drivers. It has been in several rigs since, always being taken great care of. I'm certain its not dead, yet I am going to try it in my main rig and see what happens later.

My 9600GSO in my system now is working flawlessly, but it honestly really sucks, so I want to put the 8800GT in there. I don't plan on getting anything new, since this computer was build completely out of spare parts. The 8800GT was recently put into the spare parts bin since I got a GTS250 for one of my rigs, and now I want to put it in.

I would really not like to buy another card; if the 8800GT cannot be resurrected, this 9600GSO is going to have to stay. There is recent thermal paste on the card and everything.

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I am going to try some older drivers from the Nvidia website.

Thanks,
-Gunner

P.S. The specs of the computer are under my "member configuration" if you press "more information" or something like that under my name. It is the third one down with the 8800GT in it.

 

[rolli59]

It sounds like it is broken! Bake it http://www.overclock.net/t/529271/bake-your-graphics-card-in-the-oven-fix-it-worked

I am presuming you are using the same drivers for the 8800GT and the 9600GSO!

 

[buzznut]

Here's what I would try:
Download driver sweeper or another driver removal product CCleaner, etc. Install the program.
Make sure yoou have the l;atest nVidia drivers on disk or thumb drive.
Use windows "remove programs" to remove the drivers from the control panel.
Reboot and enter safe mode. Many mbobs its F8 during post , but check with the mobo manual.
Once in safe mode, start the driver cleaner. Remove ALL nVidia drivers and any ati crap that may be left behind. Also ensure you are using the cab cleaner to get rid of any cab files.
Once thats done go ahead and restart.
This time let windows load normally. Windows will try to install a generic driver, if you are able to stop this process then do so. Otherwise just let it do its thing.
Then install the latest Geforce drivers.

Also I would check the little things, make sure the fan is operational and not clogged, make sure system fans are doing their job as well. Make sure the card is seated completley and all the cables are fully inserted, etc.

 

[Deemo13]

I have tried it in my main rig, and the same thing occurs. I believe the old beating heart in my legendary 8800GT has finally quit. It is one of the best cards I have ever had. I might go an try to find a 9800GT somewhere. Thanks for the suggestions guys!

buzznut, I tried your suggestions, yet I was not able to boot into Windows after installing the drivers for it in either of my computers.

Do you guys have any suggestions on the max graphics I could get out of that system with that lousy processor without bottleneck?

 

[fuggles]

its fried

try an aftermarket cooler

the coolers on the 8800 gt are notoriously awful

 

[buzznut]

I have tried it in my main rig, and the same thing occurs. I believe the old beating heart in my legendary 8800GT has finally quit. It is one of the best cards I have ever had. I might go an try to find a 9800GT somewhere. Thanks for the suggestions guys!

buzznut, I tried your suggestions, yet I was not able to boot into Windows after installing the drivers for it in either of my computers.

Do you guys have any suggestions on the max graphics I could get out of that system with that lousy processor without bottleneck?

Prolly pushing it with the 8800GT. Don't think you'll get much more out of it, especially considering the low clock speed. If you didn't want to pony up $75 for a X3 720BE, then I would just retire the old beast to HTPC duty or as a back up file server. Really it is totally inadequate for current gaming.

I agree the 8800GT is toast, but at least you eliminated driver issues.

 

[Deemo13]

Prolly pushing it with the 8800GT. Don't think you'll get much more out of it, especially considering the low clock speed. If you didn't want to pony up $75 for a X3 720BE, then I would just retire the old beast to HTPC duty or as a back up file server. Really it is totally inadequate for current gaming.

I agree the 8800GT is toast, but at least you eliminated driver issues.

Thanks for the advice. I just talked to my cousin who is parting out his rig (he somehow blew up his Core2Extreme) and he is going to give me his 8800GTX. I might just do a semi-overhaul on that rig as well. I was thinking of getting the AMD triple core black edition as well as a motherboard. I have some DDR3 RAM lying around also.