Help with Radeon 9700 Pro

[Boooo]

Hi, I desperately need your help... I spend big buck on this and I'm about to kill my self...
I just bought Sapphire Radeon 9700 Pro (from anandtech trade forum) so I got rid of my old nvidia driver, uninstalled everything, installed the card and I installed the Catalyst 3.8...

But everytime it boots, it just hangs, black screen, nothing else...

So I tried uninstalling the driver, and reboot and somehow it was working.....
I was happy for a bit till...

I decided to run some game and I see artifacts... (just lines... weird dots...) I didn't overclock anything (tried lowering ram clock, no go...) and the artifact didn't appeared on the 2D screen... except when windows loads and displays the logo... theres tiny orangish line artifact on green part of windows logo and word on the logo......

Edit: so i decided to reinstall the driver...
And guess what back to samething, hang hang hang...

I'm very very very sad
Please someone help this poor guy out...

 

[modedepe]

I'd completely uninstall the 3.8's with driver cleaner and then try an older version.

 

[Boooo]

I tried older driver..... I just tried omega driver...... Crashing......
I really wanna go cry right now...

My spec is:
AMD 1.2 Ghz
768mb ddr ram PC2100 i believe
MSI K7 Master-S mobo
300W PSU

I think PSU might be the problem... but for a such a old comp I dont think it will use that much power...... Plus I heard shuttle's 200W psu can run it fine......

I think card is busted.... please omg no please.................................................

 

[Boooo]

I just saw my whole bios screen jumbled up...
Im pretty sure the card is dead....
I lost all hope now....
I wasted money I earned hard....

 

[oldfart]

Plus I heard shuttle's 200W psu can run it fine......

200W?? That is pretty light.

 

[Noid]

Did your last card run 4x in that MSI ...?

Cuz,,, I had to RMA my K7master (non s) because it couldnt run a MSI made 4x video card.

I had alot of problems with that MB.

That mb also has that extra 4pin ATX PS connector doesnt it...?
If it does ... you may need to get a PS that you can plug into it for more juice. (stability)

I'd find a friend to run your new ATI for a test in a different system.

 

[Boooo]

I plan to go visit my friend and test the card out...
If it works... god knows wth...

I actually hope its other thing in my comp thats something wrong with it.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Good idea, check to see if it works on your friends computer. I'm guessing it's either your power supply thats the problem or the card is heating up from an improperly installed heatsink or thermal material. What brand power supply are you using? Power supplies are the one item you never want to skimp out on with a computer.

 

[Boooo]

It's semi generic brand. I always wanted to get a antec one but at that time i didn't have much $$$.
I'm just praying right now that it IS my PSU... and card is fine.

Edit: about heating issue. i have 1 intake, 1 out take, and pci heat sucking fan right below the agp port.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Well if the card does not work right on your friends computer, varify that the heatsink is on properly and that there is thermal paste making the proper contact. Good luck.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Boooo
It's semi generic brand. I always wanted to get a antec one but at that time i didn't have much $$$.
I'm just praying right now that it IS my PSU... and card is fine.

Edit: about heating issue. i have 1 intake, 1 out take, and pci heat sucking fan right below the agp port.

Well I'd recommend going out and buying a 300 or 350W Enermax regardless of whether or not this 9700 Pro will end up in your machine or not. It will give you stability on your voltage rails, and more importantly won't fry any of your components, like weak generic PSU's have a tendency of doing.

 

[VIAN]

I would test the card out somewhere else. How much did you pay anyway?

 

[Boooo]

k just tried it out, the card is fried/messed....
sigh...................................................

 

[oldfart]

have you been in contact with the seller?

 

[DoobieOnline]

Is your 9700 Pro black? Certain motherboards had lots of problems with revision 1 of the Sapphire 9700 Pro that was built on a black pcb. You should check out Sapphire's forum to see if there are any fixes, or contact them to see if they can help. Good luck! Sapphire Forum Link

 

[Boooo]

I tried contacting him but so far no answer.
Thanks for the link, I'll look into it.

 

[fkloster]

Originally posted by: Boooo
I tried contacting him but so far no answer.
Thanks for the link, I'll look into it.

Hmmm, Booo. I was the person who sold you that card. The fact that you say you have tried contacting me with no answer is disturbing to me. You have my email. You have my private email. I have kept track of every message that you have sent me. I told you to RMA the card to Newegg if you like and once Newegg recieves the card, I would refund you for your troubles. Problem is, you have provided no carrier tracking info for the package and newegg assures me they have not recieved your particular card. I urge you to get that tracking info and CONFIRM newegg recieved 'signed bill of lading' or you are going to get screwed. I want to help you badly but you need to get confirmation that you package was recieved. Newegg had more than one card on the rma that I gave you and one card was recieved but it was not YOUR card...