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Did I destroy my video card?

Cuda1447

Cuda1447

Lifer
Im a bit confused right now, maybe someone has done something like this before and can help out?

I just got in my new SATA drive and was attempting to install it into my rig. Planning on runnin two IDE drives and one SATA drive. As I was doing so I bumped my video card and a coil piece that was attatched by two small metal spots to the card popped off (Radeon 9800 pro). I thought oh Sh!t! I continued anyway hoping it was some sort of spare part or something. I started up my computer and everything looked ok. When I tried to boot into windows though it went through the loadind XP splash screen then just gave me a black screen saying my monitor wasn't hooked up right, no video. I restarted to make sure the SATA drive was ok, it was recognized just fine. Then I started in safe mode and to my surprise the graphics loaded perfectly fine. So I figured maybe it was the SATA drive causing the problem. I unhooked the power cable from the SATA drive and booted back up. Still can't get into windows normally, but safe mode runs just fine. Doesn't appear to be any artifacts or anything like that on the screen, everything looks normal. Unforutnately I can't get into windows outside of safe mode which doesn't make a whole lot of sense?


Anyone have any ideas wtf I could have done? By looking at this coil-like piece I imagine I could reattatch it using some sort of wood glue or something of that nature. It appears it was only attatched by some sort of adhesive before. Is it worth trying? (I don't think I have anything around like that right now).



Any ideas/suggestions would be great guys, thanks in advance.
 
Hmm, more odd stuff. It will not find the video drivers when in safe mode, yet it displays at a nice 1024x768 resolution. Oddly enough though I cannot change the resolution or colors, when I do it simply stays the same.
 
That sux. I did that to my 6800gt when I was mucking around with my hard drives. Thankfully it was RMA'able.

:camera:'s might help some other members identify the part and suggest a fix.

 
Originally posted by: skooma
That sux. I did that to my 6800gt when I was mucking around with my hard drives. Thankfully it was RMA'able.

:camera:'s might help some other members identify the part and suggest a fix.
Click to expand...

Digicam is unavailable at the moment. I was messing with my drivers in safe mode (since it said I had none) and uninstalled them using an ATI utility I had downloaded awhile back. The computer restarted and into normal mode this time. Im working on trying to reinstall the drivers now.... wtf computers are freaking weird sometimes.


Oh, while Im at it I mine as well mention this. When I did have the SATA drive hooked up it recognized it in device manager etc... but I could not see it in my computer. Any ideas why?
 
Oh, while Im at it I mine as well mention this. When I did have the SATA drive hooked up it recognized it in device manager etc... but I could not see it in my computer. Any ideas why?
Click to expand...
Have you formatted it yet? 😉
 
Originally posted by: skooma
Oh, while Im at it I mine as well mention this. When I did have the SATA drive hooked up it recognized it in device manager etc... but I could not see it in my computer. Any ideas why?
Click to expand...
Have you formatted it yet? 😉
Click to expand...

rofl, whoops. /me is an idiot.


Ok, so that probably solves that problem. But what to do about the video card now. I got into normal windows mode but when I adjusted the resolution at all (from 600x480) it went straight black again. Weird thing was the resolutin looked like a 1024x768 with perfect coloring. Freaking piece that fell off. It was like a resolution control piece or something. I wondering if I could use some tape and temporarily just tape it back on so the metal pieces are touching, lol.
 
LOL.

Well, there aren't usually "extra" parts on hardware. Maybe if you could grab a pic from newegg or somewhere and circle the part for others to see.

Its probably an easy fix for an electronics repair shop.
 
Picture of missing coil thingy


There ya go, thats the coil that popped up. Would it be completely stupid/damageable to just put this coil on here and tape it down using scotch tape, or even using just a small dab of elmers glue so it doesn't fall of? lol.
 
I wouldn't use glue :laugh: Elmers isn't conductive is it? Like I said, that part isn't there for looks 😛

I can't imagine tape would hurt, maybe leave some residue maybe. But I doubt it'd work.

 
Well if I connect to two pieces it might work? Think something like this is RMA'able? I'd hate to RMA this card a 2nd time, but if need be...

I think Ima grab some scotch tap and see if I can't somehow attatch it so the points are touching the metal pieces on the card and see what does. Gah Im a freaking idiot.
 
In the long run it might be cheaper to buy a used card.

That "coil thingy" is a capacitor and has two leads soldered inplace on the back side of the pcb.

It must be replaced with the same speced cap. Forcing it into contact and bonding it inplace with
5 minuet epoxy might do in the very short term but I would not bet on it. Then to do the repair right later
would be much more difficult. A grounded soldering iron of 30~40 watts is needed and some soldering wick.
A dental pick can be used to open the holes once the cap is off the pcb. Heat the hole and stick in the pick.
Walla!! The holes are now ready for the new cap. Polarity must be observed.

You could cry to a TV or radio repair shop and they might do it for $25 or less. *IF* they have the cap in stock.
Comp hardware uses different caps than most displays or audio stuff. They can't kill&eat you for the asking.

OH!! PM FlyingPenguin or go to his site at http://www.theflyingpenguin.com/ or register at pcabusers.com/ he's a mod there.
Very nice guy and does comp repair in centeral Florida, no hardware repair though. I bet he knows of
someone who could help you. I know several but they do whole mainboards for $35+shipping.


Sell it to me for $10 and I'll try and fix it for a $1 cap + some bench time 😀


...Galvanized
 
Well, Im a moron and am trying to super glue it back on. Will update with results. If this doesn't work I'll probably just RMA it. The piece really did fall off pretty easily.
 
Cuda, trying to bond it inplace wil just give you a guesstament of contact. If contact is poor, as it
most certainly will be, the ESR of the cap will increase and stability lost. Google ESR=Equivilant Series Resistance.
This is a fact.

Fact#2: Reference boards have more caps than production boards(generally). The bean counting
engineers come along and remove componets, reducing the cap population till the piece gets unstable,
then put "coil thingys" back till the plot work well enough to market. The point?? There is not one extra
"coil thingy" on most comp hardware. You want extras? Buy the very best workstation Cad designers card.
They have extras. Gaming cards do not. 😀 (pulling your leg here)


...Galvanized
 
Yea, I realize you're probably right. Agh! This sucks, well atleast my new HD is working good. To bad my card sucks now 🙁 I guess I'll try to RMA this sucka. ATI has been good in the past so hopefully I'll have some luck.
 
No prolly about it. Everything I posted is true.

The odds of you getting lucky bonding it are slim to none. Then it has to live in a world
of high thermal cycling.

Just RMA it.

Skooma, you juiced me 😀

...Galvanized
 
Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
No prolly about it. Everything I posted is true.

The odds of you getting lucky bonding it are slim to none. Then it has to live in a world
of high thermal cycling.

Just RMA it.

Skooma, you juiced me 😀

...Galvanized
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info man. If nothing else you've educated me a bit. Freaking coils! 😛

All this crap simply cause Im to clumsy to install a harddrive without breaking sh1t!
 
I could be wrong, but looking at the picture, it looks like the busted item is not actually a capacitor, but a transformer coil.

If it were me, i'd try to solder it back into place.
 
Wow Galv knows his stuff.

As for your video card, just get a spare and limp a bit until the replacement arrives. You'll be fine, things happen like this.
 
Originally posted by: n0tdan
I could be wrong, but looking at the picture, it looks like the busted item is not actually a capacitor, but a transformer coil.

If it were me, i'd try to solder it back into place.
Click to expand...

Ya know, you are right. It may not be a cap. It says R2R on the top, I did Google images this AM. All the other "thingies" with silver tops are caps. It still should be replaced.

I was pooped last night & skooma PMed me into this thread. *shrugs*


...Galvanized

 
n0tdan

You are correct it is an inductor made by Falco Electronics, looks like a 6612. It should be very easy to solder back with a little care. Only two leads.

pcgeek
 
Originally posted by: pcgeek11
n0tdan

You are correct it is an inductor made by Falco Electronics, looks like a 6612. It should be very easy to solder back with a little care. Only two leads.

pcgeek
Click to expand...


How did you locate the spec on the inductor...Plz.


...Galvanized

 
I did the same with some little silver thingy on my old PCI video card, my only PCI video card :frown: Good 16mb thing too... S3 salvage. Im gonna try and solder my thing on when i learn how to solder. I would give it a bash if i were you, cant hurt in trying? If you fail then just RMA, as long as you dont drop the soldering gun on the card or somthing it should be fine, doubt they would replace a half melted 9800 pro 🙂
 
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