Gainward problems, anyone?

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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
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I want to know if anyone else here has had problems with Gainward cards, especially their GeForce3 PowerPack!!! cards. I bought a GF3 PowerPack card in September '01, it worked great for about 4 months and then any 3D application that used hardware T&L would look severely corrupted (polygons misdrawn everywhere) and I had to send it back RMA for a replacement. They were very helpful and quickly sent me a replacement, a brand new identical GF3. It ran pretty well since then, up until a week ago when a different problem cropped up - 2D corruption in Windows (and occasionally even on my POST screen), and often freezing up Windows before I could even log in. Unless I can rule out the GF3 as the culprit, it looks like another RMA back to Gainward for yet another replacement.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Gainward's products?

Pictures of the problem:

http://members.cox.net/charmon79/fubar1.jpg
http://members.cox.net/charmon79/fubar2.jpg
 
styrafoam

styrafoam

Platinum Member
Jun 18, 2002
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I had a gainward GF2 ti for about 9 months and replaced it with a Gainward GF4 ti4200 about 2 months ago. The GF2 lives on in the second computer and has never had any problems.
 
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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
458
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I had a Gainward GF2MX which worked without a hitch for about 2 years, so I was suprised that my GF3s have been of inferior quality...
 
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TourGuide

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2000
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I had that exact same problem with a Ti4600 (at least it appears to be the same problem) that I bought back in April. I sent it off to RMA last week and am waiting for the replacement. I am guessing it was a RAM chip or two that went bad because I had that corruption in BIOS, DOS, and Windows screens. My screen was much worse than that though, and the patterns would shimmer and shift as I would move the mouse around the screen.

I have had two GF3 powerpacks (the same exact card you have) that have been running perfectly for 1.5-2 years. One of those cards is in the machine I am typing on right now. It helped me to determine the TI4600 was to blame for the problem.

I wonder if Cardexpert had a bad batch of RAM or something. I hope they don't send me another problem card. After hearing about your problem I am concerned.
 
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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
458
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I'm going to include a complaint letter when I send my card back this time, and ask if they will give me a GF3 Ti500 or a GF4 Ti4200 as a replacement this time since their GF3s seem to be problematic. Can't hurt to ask, right?
 
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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
458
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Originally posted by: Telinar
Does this happen before windows starts?
Click to expand...

Yes, quite often. I swapped video cards with my roommate to make sure it's the card and sure enough, it exhibited identical artifacts on his machine. His Radeon 8500 worked like a dream in mine, but he wouldn't let me keep it. :frown:
 
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TourGuide

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2000
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I think you should ask for a higher model card. Sometimes they'll companies will grant such a request on customer satisfaction grounds. I am wondering if Cardexpert started sourcing their manufacturing to some inferior plant or something.

I hope I have better luck with my replacement than the card I sent off. The reason I went back to them in the first place was the great luck I had with their first products.
 
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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
458
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Same reason I went back... I had a CARDEXpert GeForce2 MX which worked rock-solid, even overclocked, without a hitch for two years and is still probably running in someone else's computer right now. And I've still heard almost nothing but good things all around the 'Net about Gainward's cards being renowned for their quality and performance. But two f00bar cards in a row tell me that my experience probably isn't a fluke...
 
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Hankysmoo

Golden Member
May 27, 2000
1,848
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I just bought a retail gainward powerpack gf4 ti4200 from newegg and I get a fubared screen at the video bios post where it says 128mb gf4 on my asus cusl2. Should I be concerned? After the video bios it then shows the motherboard's bios fine and boots up normally... :( What should I do?
 
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TourGuide

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2000
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If I were you Hank I would keep a real close eye on my receipt for that card and don't let it out of your sight. You may be needing it for proof of purchase. My Ti4600 was displaying the problem described here intermittently until it finally went to all displayed screens that were corrupted. The first thing I did to try and remedy my problem was a driver uninstall and purge thinking that I had some corrupted files or somthing like that, but after a clean driver install the problem returned worse than before.

Just keep an eye on it and start getting your documentation together if you end up needing it.

From what I've heard, and experienced in the past, this is unusual for Cardexpert/Gainward. Sounds like they ran into a bad supply of components or something. I just hope they resolved it before they manufactured my replacement 4600. :disgust:
 
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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
458
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Heh, the good thing about Gainward is you don't need any proof of purchase for an RMA. All I did (both times) was call them and say I needed a warranty replacement... they gave me an RMA number immediately, no questions asked.
 
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TourGuide

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2000
1,680
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76
Yeah, now that I think of it you are right syko (heh), I didn't need to give them any proof of purchase. At the time I remember being a little surprised about that. Never hurts to be prepared I suppose.
 
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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
458
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Perhaps they're just accustomed to dealing with a large number of RMAs on their products?

/me scratches head...
 
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sykopath79

Senior member
Nov 2, 2000
458
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Damn... sounds like everyone and their dog is having Gainward problems! I don't think I'll be buying one of their cards again!
 
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Tab

Lifer
Sep 15, 2002
12,145
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I have seen some very good reviews of the G4 GoldenSample Gainward 4200. I have heard of great overclocking ablities, my friend bought one 4 months ago and works great.
 
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