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Brand New ATI X800 XL BLOWS UP! (Literally!)

T

timrsl

Member
I was so excited to hear ATI was finally shipping my X800 XL preorder. I tracked it all the way to my door, immediately opened it, replaced my X300 card which has been holding me over until now. I boot up and see... nothing! After a minute of being dumbfounded as to why a video card would produce no video, I started smelling a weird burning smell. At first, I thought it was my OCZ ps finally having a burn in smell with the load of a real video card, but then the smell started getting stronger. I immediately turned off the computer and took out the x800. Sure enough, on the back, a capacitor had blown melting some stuff around it and creating a big black spot on the card. I am so pissed off. I was looking forward to finally playing HL2 this weekend! ATI better be good about handling this or I will never go to them again after this entire fiasco. Just hope this isnt a problem with the first batch of cards. You would think ATI would test them. Now I have to put up with this X300 for a little longer.
 
I had a dud x850XT PE, but after a 2 hour talk on Alienware, I had one shipped to me. Arrived in 2 days.
 
I remember long ago (in video card years) when I finally received my long-awaited Diamond 16mb TNT and installed it, totally ready for some raucuss 3D gamming action. I was totally excited.

Was greeted by a Blue screen after loading the drivers, and many times after that too 🙁
of course being a total newb at driver/hardware chang-ups didnt help, nor did the those early Via MVP3 AGP chipsets coupled with an early vers FIC 503 motherboard.
 
First rule of thumb with anything electronic is to let the package acclimate to the temperature and humidity of your house fora few hours. I'm not saying that's what caused it to fry, but if that card's been sitting around for days in freezing warehouses and trucks, it's best not to jolt it to life right away.

Anyway, the X80XL appears to be out in force, so you may not have much trouble getting a replacelment.
 
I too had been waiting to install my new X800XL onto my MSI RS480M2-IL ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset socket 939 motherboard. ATI had the board shipped 8 days after I placed my pre-order.

I'd installed my new motherboard, cpu, and RAM early and I'd been using the integrated Xpress 200 video core while I waited for me pre-ordered card.

When it showed up, I installed it in about 30 seconds. It's been running perfectly and it's super fast!

Don't you all just love a happy ending? 😛
 
''First rule of thumb with anything electronic is to let the package acclimate to the temperature and humidity of your house fora few....'''

great rule if you can actually HOLD yourself knowing the card is right in your hands
 
Called ati, they are e-mailing me a packing slip and I should have a new one fairly soon. He said they should have constant stock of them from now on.

Quick note about the temperature thing, it was at room temp when I opened it. I live in a dorm so the packing room accepts my package and then lets it sit for a while before telling me. Fedex says I recieved it a 1:30PM and I didnt pick it up until almost 7:00PM.

As a side note:Its freezing here in new york! Too much snow and its March!
 
Originally posted by: mustap
''First rule of thumb with anything electronic is to let the package acclimate to the temperature and humidity of your house fora few....'''

great rule if you can actually HOLD yourself knowing the card is right in your hands
Click to expand...

LOL! I had that problem once with a videocard. In fact, it was the only ATI card I ever owned, a Radeon 7500. I got it in, and instantaniously unwrapped it and installed it into my computer. One of its capacitors blew (much as the OP's one did on his X800XL). I got a replacement, and it worked, sort of. I wasn't happy with its performance, and therefore, I will stick with NVIDIA, as I have had no problems with them. Anyway, enough ranting. Hope everything works out. 🙂
 
actually you should let it sit for at least an hour at room temp. got my x800xl and a new enermax psu yesterday, they were sitting outside my doorstep for who knows how long (!!). it was 30 degrees outside so they were freezing cold when i brought them in, let them get toasty =)
 
Originally posted by: Pete
First rule of thumb with anything electronic is to let the package acclimate to the temperature and humidity of your house fora few hours. I'm not saying that's what caused it to fry, but if that card's been sitting around for days in freezing warehouses and trucks, it's best not to jolt it to life right away.

Anyway, the X80XL appears to be out in force, so you may not have much trouble getting a replacelment.
Click to expand...

Wasn't aware that vid cards were like fishies you buy at the petshop
 
Originally posted by: tr1kstanc3
actually you should let it sit for at least an hour at room temp. got my x800xl and a new enermax psu yesterday, they were sitting outside my doorstep for who knows how long (!!). it was 30 degrees outside so they were freezing cold when i brought them in, let them get toasty =)
Click to expand...

30 degrees, freezing! Gosh, have you been in Chicago before? 😉

Personally, I think temp has nothing to do with the problem you had, OP. I know a guy in Montreal who leaves his case outsite (in the balkoni) in the winter (around 0 degrees) and he overclocks his computer so much! He never had a problem.
 
Originally posted by: Killrose
I remember long ago (in video card years) when I finally received my long-awaited Diamond 16mb TNT and installed it, totally ready for some raucuss 3D gamming action. I was totally excited.

Was greeted by a Blue screen after loading the drivers, and many times after that too 🙁
of course being a total newb at driver/hardware chang-ups didnt help, nor did the those early Via MVP3 AGP chipsets coupled with an early vers FIC 503+ motherboard.
Click to expand...
Sherman, set the way back machine to the 1990's! 🙂 I had that exact same combo and never did get the board to run 100fsb with my 100fsb K6-2 500. Ironically it is still working as a net box for a nice elderly lady with a Cyrix M2 PR333.
 
timrsl, then temp probably wasn't the problem. Borked caps do happen, I guess. Considering you probably bought it at a bargain price, waiting another week or so shouldn't be too bad.

Atomicus, yes, yes they are. Video cards are exactly like fish. Don't feed them too much (power), either, b/c they have no self-control (see tim's capacitor). 😉
 
Room temperature, no overclock, it should have been just fine. The X300 worked before an after so I must have just gotten a bad board. You would think they test each one before shipping. I guess I shouldnt complain though-I can wait a week or two more for an $80 savings from MSRP.
 
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