9700 Pro problem with power connector!!!

[jesusbonjovi]

i did a search to try to find similar problems but didnt find any...

I recently purchased a used 9700 Pro off ebay. The card seemed to work fine. i have display i managed to instal the latest drivers and i have been able to play games. my problems began when i tried to run 3DMark 2001 SE the benchmark would start and randomly during some tests my computer would just freeze. Everything stops...i see picture its like its just paused. the computer doesnt respond to any keyboard commands. (i tried a whole bunch of times and it never froze at the same point twice.) i started getting worried since it cost me a pretty penny and i bought it off ebay. i started doing more tests and i concluded it was overheating (maybe?) so i downloaded 3DMark03 to test to see how far it would get. Strangely it managed to get through the whole thing without any problems (got a score of 5000)

So i figured maybe it was only the other benchmark for some reason. I continued to play games. i played Medal of Honor Allied Asault and everything seemed okay. i played it for a while on and off (in the span of a day) and then the last time i played it froze...just like during the benchmark. I tried again and again and it would freeze at random places. I then tried another game (Halo) and i played it for a few minutes (an hour or 2) and everything ran fine. I'm confused by all the freezing on and off... anyway i decided maybe i should take the card out and plug it back in. as i was doing this this is where i noticed the problem in the title of this topic. I noticed the pins from the plug on the card (not where the floppy plug plugs in but where the adapter on the card connects to the card (if you click the links you can see the pictures i managed to take) The plug has 4 pins and it seems the two middle pins are broken.

Here are the pictures:

www.geocities.com/jesus_bon_jovi5/broken.jpg

www.geocities.com/jesus_bon_jovi5/broken2.jpg

err i think you'll have to copy and paste the link..geocities doesnt seem to want to let me direct link...sorry about that


So i was wondering what do you guys think do you think this could be the source of my problem? are those 2 pins even used? i mean the fan spins and the card seems to work fine..it only messes up in 3d games sometimes. Anyone else ever have a problem like this? i am thinking of returning it and maybe having it exchanged. I could try to fix it myself but if i can return i rather do that than risk messing the card up.

any help would be greatly appreciated.... and i apologize for the length of my posts....err i just feel i have to explain...

thanks alot..

bythe way right now i am using my friend's PCI video card just to be safe

 

[AristoV300]

Sounds like a heat issue to me. You may want to invest in some better cooling the VGA Silencer. Are you using the latest Cat's (4.7)?

 

[jesusbonjovi]

Sounds like a heat issue to me

thats what i have been thinking but i just discovered the broken pins and was wondering how does that impact the card's preformance

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

Wow, that connector looks pretty mangled. That leads me to believe it didn't come from the factory that way. I have a 9700pro, but it must be a later model because mine uses a HDD connector instead of a Floppy connector. I think mine is fully populated with contacts, so that all 4 wires are used, but I don't know for sure.

I'll try to double check but I make no promises (I'm usually pretty forgetful).

However, if those truly should be connected, it looks like it could be an easy fix. You could grab some short pieces of wire and solder them on to re-connect those pins.

Anyway, good luck, and I'll try to let you know how may card is connected.

-D'oh!

 

[AristoV300]

I am not really sure since I never had a 9700, but seeing how it is running I really doubt that is an issue. If it was then my guess is the card would be dead in the water but hell see if you can fix it. I would say to test the heat issue try running with your case open, that should help.

 

[jesusbonjovi]

i have tried running with the case open... and it the same... i even put a huge fan (uhh house fan..people fan..not case/computer fan) the size of my case infront to try to cool it down and i still had problems in some games although it might have helped...i ran the 3dMark03 benchmark with the fan after it froze (only froze once) and my score was a little bit higher 5025 or something........ still lost on what to do....]


EDIT: i even unplugged one of my hard drives to try to save some power incase it was a power issue..same thing


maybe i should give some info on my setup:

Athlon 64 2800+
Abit KV8
DDR 400 3200 512mb Corsair Value Select
Radeon 9700 Pro with latest drivers for Wiindows 98 (4.3 i think)
Windows 98 :\

(by the way i have been working on this for over a week trying to get my new system up and finally i got my video card which was the last piece and i am still haveing problems)

 

[AristoV300]

You are not overclocking your CPU or card, right? Hope whom you bought it from didn't overclock the pants off it or something and left you with a burnt out one. May also be that your PSU is not able to handle it??? I had card problem in the past due to my rig taxing out my PSU.

 

[jesusbonjovi]

Nothing is overclocked and everything is at default. The seller gurnateed the card to be working and that it had not been overclocked before. My PSU is 350w... came with my new case...

my case is:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-148&depa=0

 

[AristoV300]

Generic PSU's that come with your case can cause more headaches then you can imagine. I would really suggest you invest in a better PSU from a well known maker, like Antec, Enermax, PC Power and Cooling at least in the 450w range. I am not sure what else is in your rig but most high end graphics cards are power hungry.

 

[jesusbonjovi]

the PSU is an antec 350w... i dont have much experience with these high end systems and power hungry devices. and cooling... i just upgraded from a 500mhz celeron and i was pushing that little thing... i dont know if it matters but i have the card connected to a 21" monitor for windows the resolution is at 1600x1200 and for games its at 1024x768

 

[Killrose]

If it was a heat issue, you would have problems with all 3d games and benchmarks, not just a few. I'm thinking it's a driver problem, maybe remnants of old drivers or something. Make sure "fast writes" is dissabled in bios.

The 9700 definately needs to be using the 4-pin connector, though i'm not sure if it's drawing from the 12v+ or the 5.5v+, so it's possible the broken pins don't matter. I know from personnal experiance that if you don't plug in that connector, you get no video and some beeping on start-up.

 

[jesusbonjovi]

Originally posted by: Killrose
I know from personnal experiance that if you don't plug in that connector, you get no video and some beeping on start-up.

yup. i tried that just to see if it would run and it started beeping at me like crazy

 

[PliotronX]

Thanks for the nice visual aid, that is definitely messed up. I'm thinking the previous owner used brute force to remove the floppy connector maybe to sleeve the wires, and in the split second it flew off, the male connector on the PCB came it with, breaking those two terminals (the other two terminals just slipped out from the male connector). In any case, that can't be good as they are both ground connections (the black wires). A circuit cannot be completed without a ground. I'm surprised it turns on without those connected as the board does draw quite a bit of juice from the +5v rail at above 300MHz (default is 324/310 I believe). What I would try doing is use a tiny bit of wire and solder either end to the damaged terminals to complete the circuits. If it doesn't help with the hard locks, it's interesting because the card might be using a different ground in this case. Good luck.

 

[jesusbonjovi]

any tips or help on what i should do? i have never soldered before i dont know much about it and this is kind of a tight squeeze to get in there. i was thining of maybe returning it and having it exchanged... the fix it yourself route i was leaving as my last alternative. any thoughts on the matter?

 

[jesusbonjovi]

aww no more help?

 

[KF]

I don't think the pins were broken. From where they are, I don't think you could break them. They look like they were deliberately cut, probably at the factory. Sometimes extra ground connections cause problems (called ground loops) and engineers take measures to insure all grounds go to a single point.

The way problems like yours are tracked down is by substitution. If the problem goes away, then that part was the problem; at least that is the simplist logical deduction. If you've put in a video card that functions OK, then you have grounds for believing the problem was the video card.

However make sure you have the latest BIOS and latest mobo and video card drivers. Athlon 64 mobos are kind of recent, so getting all the quirks ironed out may be taking a while.

 

[jesusbonjovi]

in that case (in case the pins were cut deliberately) could someone with a Radeon 9700 pro verify that their pins are either intact or cut?

it just freaks me out that 2 of the pins are broken...i am afraid that if it is indeed damaged i could be damaging the card further by using it...

 

[PliotronX]

KF, that's interesting stuff, and yeah especially GART drivers sometimes need to be reinstalled after video drivers. Luckily they're included with the VIA & nVidia driver packs.

Jesusbonjovi, I agree that exchanging it would be the best route. I was just thinking that you might have to go through ATI for the RMA and I'm not sure of the warranty logistics. Soldering should be a last resort, definitely. For reference, here is my Sapphire 9700 Pro's connector. Hope you can get it fixed

 

[Sarge1]

The pins are supposed to be connected.
I have a 9700 and all the pins are intact. A couple of the pins on mine became loose where they are attached to the PCB, and caused me to have lockups in 3D apps. I heated the pins and dripped a little bit of solder down them and the problem was fixed.
Your card may have other problems in addition to the pins but, they are definitely supposed to be intact.
If you can't solder them yourself, take it to a TV or electronics repair shop and they'll probably do it for a few bucks.
It looks to me like those pins were indeed cut, and for the life of me I can't figure out why someone would cut them. Unless it was to cover up some other problem.

I hope I'm wrong here, but I think you might have been ripped off.

 

[jesusbonjovi]

aww damn... i already emailed them to telling them i would like a replacement. what i really dont like is having to pay shipping to them and having it shipped back.... it already took a week to get it to me....now a week to get to them and a week to get back plus more money? i could have saved a bit more and gotten a 9800 Pro.... this sucks... i have been having so many problems with my upgrade... if its not one thing its another :'(

PliotronX, thank you very much for the visual and the clarification.

 

[KoolHonda]

Those leads look like they've been cut in some crazy volt mod experiment or somethin.

 

[natto fire]

Why are you using Windows 98 if I may ask?

Those pins are definitely in bad shape but I would think that it wouldn't work at all. Unless, as someone else mentioned, it is grounding the circuit another way. But my guess is going towards the old drivers/old OS.

Looks like a pretty easy solder to me but if you don't have much experience soldering then I would reccomend getting a replacement.

 

[KF]

---->jesusbonjovi, I would not trust the Win98 drivers to be 100% perfect for an Athlon 64 motherboard. Combining these two has to be a very odd choice.

>couple of the pins on mine became loose where they are attached to the PCB, and caused me to
> have lockups in 3D apps. I heated the pins and dripped a little bit of solder down them and the problem was fixed.

----> Sarge1, how did you notice the soldered-in pins became loose? It seems like it would be very hard to see.

I don't have a 9700, but on my FX5900, the power plug solder pins go right through the card to the back, so in my case I can't imagine how they would come loose.

 

[jiffylube1024]

In my opinion, that connector is definately the issue. It is booting because it sees something connected to it, but it can't get full power from the motherboard with those two pins broken where they are.

You will have to fix those connectors - either send it back to the guy (it's a defective card), or send it back to ATI if you can, or get someone to solder those connections back.

 

[ss284]

No grounding = No good.

Those two center pins are ground. That explains why its working, but hot having a stable ground is a bad bad idea.

Return this mangled piece of hardware and ask for a full refund.


-Steve