*Need Help!* - tons of garbage on video display!

[xerocool]

Hi guys, my rig is a 3.06b running on an ABIT IC7-G with a 9700 Pro and about 5 harddrives (all about 5 years old), and my PSU is a TT 420W Purepower.

I recently noticed that both my northbridge and VGA fans were completely busted, so I replaced my northbridge fan with a fanless Thermalright heatsink and my video card got a cheap Kingwin aluminum cooler (but it has 3 fans on it). And while I was replacing these fans, I changed out to a new tower and blew out all the dust, etc.

Everything was going ok until I turned my PC on, I got an error message saying that my video card power plug wasn't connected even though it was. I fiddled around with it a bit and found the connection to the AGP was a bit loose. After that was solved, the computer booted up fine and ran perfectly for about 10 mins, then I started getting crazy horizontal and vertical pixelated streaks. I figured it was my rig overheating so I turned it off, and left it off for about a week (felt sorta discouraged).

When I turned it on again this week, the vertical and horizontal streaks were still there, but this time right at bootup. However, when I mouseover these regions, my mouse pointer does not get pixelated- it just stays the same.

I'm not sure if I fried my chip, screwed up the card or northbridge when I was installing the new heatsinks or if I damaged the harddrives when I moved them to the new case.

I know this is hard to debug without being here, but anyone got any advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nnyan]

If you're getting this before you get to windows then its not a driver issue. I've seen this before when 1. Videocard has been damaged 2. Videocard is overheating 3. Not seated properly into AGP slot.

I'm sure there are other causes but those are the ones that I've had experience with. Make double sure that your HSF is seated properly on your video card. Did you use thermal compound? Take the HSF off and see if you have complete and even coverage on the GPU. When you were cleaning it out make sure you didn't get junk inside the AGP slot (I know but thinking of everything here) and carefully look to make sure the card is fully seated from end to end.

If you have access to another video card (even if just for testing) put that in and see if you problem goes away.

 

[xerocool]

I used the whole tube of stock thermal compound they gave me for the heat pipes on sink, and used AS3 for the actual gpu/heatsink contact. I also used IPA to and special cleaning paper to swab everything. But not the inside of the AGP slot...

I was thinking maybe the thing was overheating, but RIGHT when I turn it on, the thing already shows pixelation like when I get Phoenix Bios v.XXX etc.

I did have to jam off the original heatsink with a razor because it was epoxied on, is there a way to check if I damaged some wiring or the PCB?

 

[imported_flounder]

Does the 9700 have a thermal monitor in the chip? Also, investigate the other temps on the comp on Everest.

 

[xerocool]

I've actually been too afraid to leave the computer on for more than a minute at a time, and my bootup usually takes about 2-3 mins. I've been doing the old school method of touching the heatsink to see if it's hot or not. But I guess I should a) dismantle the sinks and see if the contact is good, b) check real temps of the chips via monitoring progs and c)....?

 

[oynaz]

Your video card is clearly overheating.

 

[xerocool]

Originally posted by: oynaz
Your video card is clearly overheating.

it can overheat in the first 5 secs of being turned on? mind you, this is after having it turned off for a week.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Originally posted by: xerocool
I used the whole tube of stock thermal compound they gave me for the heat pipes on sink, and used AS3 for the actual gpu/heatsink contact. I also used IPA to and special cleaning paper to swab everything. But not the inside of the AGP slot...

I was thinking maybe the thing was overheating, but RIGHT when I turn it on, the thing already shows pixelation like when I get Phoenix Bios v.XXX etc.

I did have to jam off the original heatsink with a razor because it was epoxied on, is there a way to check if I damaged some wiring or the PCB?

That's way too much. Clean it off with some rubbing alcohol and then reapply a little bit, the size of a grain of rice, and spread it around evenly using a razor blade.

 

[Sdiver2489]

I am so confused...what did you do with the stock thermal compound to use it on the heat pipes???

 

[Sdiver2489]

Originally posted by: xerocool

Originally posted by: oynaz
Your video card is clearly overheating.

it can overheat in the first 5 secs of being turned on? mind you, this is after having it turned off for a week.

yes

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: xerocool
I used the whole tube of stock thermal compound they gave me for the heat pipes on sink, and used AS3 for the actual gpu/heatsink contact. I also used IPA to and special cleaning paper to swab everything. But not the inside of the AGP slot...

I was thinking maybe the thing was overheating, but RIGHT when I turn it on, the thing already shows pixelation like when I get Phoenix Bios v.XXX etc.

I did have to jam off the original heatsink with a razor because it was epoxied on, is there a way to check if I damaged some wiring or the PCB?

That's way too much. Clean it off with some rubbing alcohol and then reapply a little bit, the size of a grain of rice, and spread it around evenly using a razor blade.

I used that same heatsink w/ good results, big blue thing? Yes you need all or most of the goop for the pipes. Did you get the 2 inner blocks secured so they made a nice flat sandwich before sliding the pipes on?
My other concern would be the removal of the old sink, prying that puppy off may have done damage. What I have found to work well but sounds nuts, a torch.... A jewelers torch is best, a small hot flame applied to the heatsink , I'll heat the fins directly above the chip, not much, 2-3 seconds at a time to soften the paste enough to twist free.

 

[xerocool]

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: xerocool
I used the whole tube of stock thermal compound they gave me for the heat pipes on sink, and used AS3 for the actual gpu/heatsink contact. I also used IPA to and special cleaning paper to swab everything. But not the inside of the AGP slot...

I was thinking maybe the thing was overheating, but RIGHT when I turn it on, the thing already shows pixelation like when I get Phoenix Bios v.XXX etc.

I did have to jam off the original heatsink with a razor because it was epoxied on, is there a way to check if I damaged some wiring or the PCB?

That's way too much. Clean it off with some rubbing alcohol and then reapply a little bit, the size of a grain of rice, and spread it around evenly using a razor blade.

This is my VGA cooler, it has 4 heatsink pieces, one that sits directly ontop of the gpu, one on the back, then these clamp together. Two heat pipes go ontop of these thingsand then two huge Al blocks sandwich the heat pipes against the smaller heatsinks and basically enclose the entire graphics card.

I had to use the whole tube of stock compound JUST for the heatpipes to make good contact with smaller heatsinks. I used just a dab of artic silver 3 on the actual gpu contact with the smaller heatsink.
Kingwin VGA Cooler

I should disassemble the heatsink and see if it's ok or not. But looking at it right now, it looks pretty sturdy and secure. <sigh>

 

[Sdiver2489]

Originally posted by: xerocool

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: xerocool
I used the whole tube of stock thermal compound they gave me for the heat pipes on sink, and used AS3 for the actual gpu/heatsink contact. I also used IPA to and special cleaning paper to swab everything. But not the inside of the AGP slot...

I was thinking maybe the thing was overheating, but RIGHT when I turn it on, the thing already shows pixelation like when I get Phoenix Bios v.XXX etc.

I did have to jam off the original heatsink with a razor because it was epoxied on, is there a way to check if I damaged some wiring or the PCB?

That's way too much. Clean it off with some rubbing alcohol and then reapply a little bit, the size of a grain of rice, and spread it around evenly using a razor blade.

This is my VGA cooler, it has 4 heatsink pieces, one that sits directly ontop of the gpu, one on the back, then these clamp together. Two heat pipes go ontop of these thingsand then two huge Al blocks sandwich the heat pipes against the smaller heatsinks and basically enclose the entire graphics card.

I had to use the whole tube of stock compound JUST for the heatpipes to make good contact with smaller heatsinks. I used just a dab of artic silver 3 on the actual gpu contact with the smaller heatsink.
Kingwin VGA Cooler

I should disassemble the heatsink and see if it's ok or not. But looking at it right now, it looks pretty sturdy and secure. <sigh>

Just an FYI never buy a heatsink with that sloppy design they have used in the future. A good heatsink will not rely on thermal grease to bridge a gap...a secure connection should always be made. Thermal grease is not that great of a heat conductor and is only useful for bridging the natural pockets in metal.

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: Sdiver2489
Just an FYI never buy a heatsink with that sloppy design they have used in the future. A good heatsink will not rely on thermal grease to bridge a gap...a secure connection should always be made. Thermal grease is not that great of a heat conductor and is only useful for bridging the natural pockets in metal.

You would have to hold this thing in your hand to understand how the thermal paste is used, It does not bridge any gaps. 1. being a grease it allows you to slide the pipes to fit your card, 2. again being a grease when the outer blocks are tightened they squeeze together around the heatpipes.
This unit is cheap, the directions suck, but if you have the least bit of mechanical aptitude you will find it an awsome cooler.

 

[jzodda]

That sounds like heat damage to your GPU. It happened to me-I recently installed an aftermarket HS/Fan on an X800 pro. I was careless and while installing did not notice that one of the heatpipes was hitting a ram sink and so on one side there was no contact.
I plugged it in and booted to windows and it looked fine but was far from it. I ran 3dmark and it locked up the system. Re-booted and ran ATI tool and it said 60c, ran a scan for artifacts and the temp shot to 130C within 2 secs as the system locked again.

This time all the funny lines you mentioned were what I was getting on reboot in bios and it also hosed my XP install as I was getting strange errors that would not let me boot into windows, even on a another card.

When I fixed my contact problem it was too late. I had already damaged the card. So I had to re-install windows with an old Radeon9700 that was in storage. Message is when applying any kind of heatsink to a GPU/CPU have good light and don't rush it.

I ruined my X800 you may have damaged your card as well