ATI 9800 Pro Corrupt Display - HELP!

[sgibbs]

I have a 2 year old ATI 9800 PRO (128mb) that may be going bad. I am getting short horizontal lines and dot patterns that are randomly palced on my Dell 18" LCD. I reseated the card and checked the DVI cable but the problwm persists. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[BlueWeasel]

Are you overclocking the card?

 

[crazyeddie]

The video glitches you're describing could have a wide variety of causes:

1) Driver problems or outdated video drivers

2) Video card fan failure or insufficient cooling

3) Bad video memory on the video card

I'd try to diagnose them in that particular order. Start by uninstalling all of the video drivers you currently have installed for existing or old video cards. In particular, you don't want any Nvidia drivers installed. ATI drivers can generally overwrite older versions without a problem, but uninstalling first is probably a good idea.

Once you have the latest Catalyst drivers downloaded and installed, and assuming that doesn't fix things for you, try examining the video card itself. Is the heatsink fan spinning at full speed? Does the card seem to be getting enough outside air from the case fan? Do the spots not show up until the PC has been running for a little while? Does running the PC with the cover off seem to reduce or eliminate the problem.

If you are confident that you have a nice, clean installation of the latest drivers and that the card itself is running cool and you still have glitches, you probably need to start shopping for a new card. This assumes the graphical glitches show up all the time and not just with certain games or programs. Bad video memory on a graphic card will cause all kinds of havoc depending on where the bad memory is and how much is bad.

I have seen instances where the bad memory isn't often used unless you're running full motion video or playing 3D games and utilizing most of the card's resources. In these cases, the problem might seem application specific. The only way to really know for sure is to find a buddy with a 9800 Pro and try their card with the same programs and the same driver.

Good luck.

 

[sgibbs]

No I am not overclocking the card. The settings are the ones automatically set when the drivers were installed. Also, the horizontal artifacts are very random and appear shortly after booting as well as when the machine has been on for awhile. Does anyone make a better cooler for the card that I can get over the net? Thanks

 

[Killrose]

If it is a Retail Built By Ati card, it has a 3yr warranty. If it is heat related it should not show up at cold boot-up and if it was driver related it would not just start showing up using the same drivers.

Does the problem come and go? or is it always there? I doubt a new fan is going to help.

 

[sgibbs]

Bigger problems now with my ATI 9800 Pro card. I reinstalled all of the latest drivers and now cannot run aquamark or the 3Dmark2001 since it says my video card does not meet minimum requirements. Also, Fltsim 2004 now will not recognize the 9800 pro video card for 3D display. I check in the device list and the dispaly adapters area and it is there and says working correctly. Any suggestions?

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: sgibbs
Bigger problems now with my ATI 9800 Pro card. I reinstalled all of the latest drivers and now cannot run aquamark or the 3Dmark2001 since it says my video card does not meet minimum requirements. Also, Fltsim 2004 now will not recognize the 9800 pro video card for 3D display. I check in the device list and the dispaly adapters area and it is there and says working correctly. Any suggestions?

#1 remove Ati drivers and clean out old Ati drivers using Driver Cleaner

#2 Re-install the gart driver for your motherboard chipset

#3 install DX9c

#4 install Ati catalyst drivers

 

[imported_Hi]

Originally posted by: Killrose

Originally posted by: sgibbs
Bigger problems now with my ATI 9800 Pro card. I reinstalled all of the latest drivers and now cannot run aquamark or the 3Dmark2001 since it says my video card does not meet minimum requirements. Also, Fltsim 2004 now will not recognize the 9800 pro video card for 3D display. I check in the device list and the dispaly adapters area and it is there and says working correctly. Any suggestions?

#1 remove Ati drivers and clean out old Ati drivers using Driver Cleaner

#2 Re-install the gart driver for your motherboard chipset

#3 install DX9c

#4 install Ati catalyst drivers

if thats stuff does not help it imporve call ATI

 

[sep]

make sure the power cable to the Video card is directly from the powersupply. make sure the fan on the card is running. Open the case and blow a regular fan in to the case for testing.

 

[sgibbs]

Before replacing my 9800 pro card can someone recommend a good replacement cooling fan for the ATI 9800 Pro and where I can get one on the net? Thanks

 

[Wizard12]

check to see if the fan is working!

I had the exact problem with mine, unfortuantly I didnt discover it in time and my sapphire r9800 pro died !

 

[sgibbs]

yes the fan is working

 

[rbV5]

I like the VGA silencer Rev3 for my AIW 9700pro. I have had similar graphic corruption with my card twice: Once prior when I had unstable voltage on the +12v rail using my Antec trueblue 480 powersupply (quality power supply that has worked fine in 2 different other PC's since, including my present Main PC) and the last time when my stock fan was dying, and I didn't want to wait for an RMA. I installed the VGA Silencer, and like it quite a bit over the stock solution.

If your fan is still working, is it working at the proper speed? Mine was still "working" technically, but it was turning so slowly that it wasn't cooling properly. Is your case cool? Clean?

It also sounds like you have driver/software issues now in addition to perhaps cooling or PS issues.

 

[sgibbs]

The fan appears to be worling at the proper speed (turning quickly) and the case is clean and the vents are clean. It is a 2 year old Dell Server 400SC that I turned into a gaming machine. The Aquamark and 3Dmark 2001 test programs now run but there are many lines and strange displays when I run these test programs that were not there before. Thanks

 

[sgibbs]

Here is my dilema, I have a 2 year old ATI 9800 Pro (128mb) video card that I bought used to replace a 9600 card. I am getting alot of horizontal artifacts (lines and dots) on all of the displays and especially in FS2004 when I get color banding and horizontal flickers on the screen. I have cleaned all of the ATI drivers and reinstalled the latest driver but the problem persists, Also, when running the 3Dmark and Aquamark benchmarks the display is very poor with many horizontal and vertical color bands. My options are; 1. get a better cooler for the video card (like the Zalman VF700) and assume the problem is with the stock cooling on the card or 2. get a new 9600 Pro (or other card like the Nvidia 6600). I mainly need a fast card for FS2004. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[imported_Noob]

I had the same problem with my old 9800 Pro. So have at least 3 other people on these forums. Chances are it's the bad cooling. If you get weird artifacts in the BIOS the card is defective. RMA it.

 

[rbV5]

My options are; 1. get a better cooler for the video card (like the Zalman VF700) and assume the problem is with the stock cooling on the card or 2. get a new 9600 Pro (or other card like the Nvidia 6600). I mainly need a fast card for FS2004. Any suggestions? Thanks

Your other option would be to rule out your powersupply as the culprit as well.

 

[sgibbs]

Hopefully problem solved. Decided to request an RMA # from ATI on my ATI 9800 Pro and got one back a few hours later from ATI. Thought it best to have them fix or replace the card since I am sure it is under the 3 year warranty. In the meantime scavanged my wife's Nvidia MX420 video card from her Dell 4550. No problems at all (no artifacts, horizontal lines or corrupt color displays) on this video card in either the FS2004 or benchmark tests. So I guess this singled out the ATI 9800 pro video card as the culprit. Thanks for all of your help. One last question, Does ATI actually repair the defective video card or relace it with a new card?

 

[Killrose]

I believe you will receive a re-furb from somewhere's in Texas.

 

[sgibbs]

The RMA'd card was sent to Tonawanda New York. Do you think it will still be a refurbished card?