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I killed my 9800XT :(

S

starsfan7

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 29, 2005
Messages
193
So, watercooling finally bit me in the ass. I had just finished flushing my system, leak checked all the lines, yadda yadda yadda. So I pour the coolant back into the res, but evidently, some had dribbled back down the pitcher, and a pencil eraser size drop landed on my card. I didn't realize this until it was all over, I feel like a tool. Oh well, no use crying over spilled coolant I guess.
 
Well, at least it wasn't because of a leak or something really stupid. Accidents happen I suppose, and thats the risk you run with H20, but hell, I got a year and a half out of the beeotch, not bad for 350$. Hell I payed more for this 9800XT than I did for the x800XT I just ordered. Life goes on...
 
i'm horrified of trying out watercooling.. I think I will stick to my "add another fan" attitude :0)
Stories like this dont help either.. But at the same time, I wonder what it would be like to have a dust free case... :confused:
 
If you're careful, mistakes don't happen.

If you've got enough experience, you know what could go wrong and you check everything, and I mean everything, before you hit the power button.

You're gonna do something wrong sooner or later, what dies in the process could range from, meh -> !@#$#. :p
 
mohammedtaha said:
If you're careful, mistakes don't happen.

If you've got enough experience, you know what could go wrong and you check everything, and I mean everything, before you hit the power button.

You're gonna do something wrong sooner or later, what dies in the process could range from, meh -> !@#$#. :p
Click to expand...

Exactly, if you aren't thorough and careful (like me tonight) then crap like this will happen. If I had taken the time to once over everything, I would have spotted it, but I was tired, and I lost a damn good vid card because I was lazy. When you take the time, and you are methodical, I would have to say WC'ing is pretty much just as safe as air.
 
starsfan7 said:
Exactly, if you aren't thorough and careful (like me tonight) then crap like this will happen. If I had taken the time to once over everything, I would have spotted it, but I was tired, and I lost a damn good vid card because I was lazy. When you take the time, and you are methodical, I would have to say WC'ing is pretty much just as safe as air.
Click to expand...

I think murphies law comes into play here..
The harder you try not to get water on your system, the more likely that it will happen..
 
starsfan7 said:
So, watercooling finally bit me in the ass. I had just finished flushing my system, leak checked all the lines, yadda yadda yadda. So I pour the coolant back into the res, but evidently, some had dribbled back down the pitcher, and a pencil eraser size drop landed on my card. I didn't realize this until it was all over, I feel like a tool. Oh well, no use crying over spilled coolant I guess.
Click to expand...

I've had so much condensation (I have a water chiller) on the back of my card (dripping from CPU block) that there was green corrosion growing on it before I noticed. I had to take the card out and spend an hour cleaning it very carefully before it would work again.

Have you tried cleaning the entire card? Might be worth an hour of your time.
 
Make sure you dry it off and clean it and try again. I have had some mircles with stuff that I have dropped into water and got it to work again. Cell phones(2) and a ipod. As long as it doesnt short anything out you should be good.
 
Well, if I can find my digicam, I will take a picture of it. I am stupid, and I hadn't plugged in the external power supply to the card (like I said I was tired). So it was running just off the agp power. I saw some oxidation on a few contacts (they turned a kind of blue green, blue uv dye). When I put the card in my machine, it boots, and displays the post, but it starts wigging out when windows boots, so, I dunno. This pic is the back of a random 9800xt, I marked where the oxidation is. I think one of the contacts might have been seperated, but I don't have anything to magnify my view. The copper heatspreader was on the card when it happened.

9800dmg.jpg
 
Ok, so I wnet after it with a little alcohol and a rag, and now it will boot into windows, but I get artifacts all over the place, then it finally just locks up. Trying more cleaning, this is some progress after all...
 
well, windows boots, but image tearing and artifacting just gets worse until it locks up. I dunno
 
try reflashing the bios .. sometimes the bios gets affected as well..

You also might be missing other parts of the video card.. Is that the only spot that got wet ? Did some go into the agp slot ?

You have to be completely thorough ;)

Good luck
 
well, I just got through scrubbing down the agp slot. I don't have a floppy anywhere *crap* so a bios flash will have to wait til tomorrow. Right now I am letting all the alcohol evaporate, not quite ready to give up yet, if there is any hope for this card...
 
Oh, and as far as the card goes, I have removed all ramsinks, etc, and scrubbed the entire card *very gently* using alcohol and propanol. I don't believe water got anywhere else, but it shouldn't matter because I cleaned the whole card, not just that part. The oxidation is gone now, and the contacts are good, now that I can see them.
 
Borgschulze said:
It's telling you something, get an X1800XL!
Click to expand...

I agree.. well, at least with the new graphics card idea.
Buddy, your just polishing brass on the titanic.. Let her go and go find another.
 
lloose said:
I agree.. well, at least with the new graphics card idea.
Buddy, your just polishing brass on the titanic.. Let her go and go find another.
Click to expand...
LOL (yes, the mods can laugh at a good joke :)) Also, I certainly agree with the sentiments expressed. You can pick up an AIW X800XT on Newegg for about $320, and X800 Pros that have a pretty good chance of unlocking to X800XTs have seen their price plummet recently. The direct from ATI refurbs are a pretty good deal (Wasn't it $180?), and there are also new ones floating around the e-tailers too, sometimes in the $225-250 neighborhood. Both stand a pretty good chance of basically doubling your graphics horsepower. If you can get that 9800XT working again, it should sell for at least $100.
 
DougLite said:
LOL (yes, the mods can laugh at a good joke :)) Also, I certainly agree with the sentiments expressed. You can pick up an AIW X800XT on Newegg for about $320, and X800 Pros that have a pretty good chance of unlocking to X800XTs have seen their price plummet recently. The direct from ATI refurbs are a pretty good deal (Wasn't it $180?), and there are also new ones floating around the e-tailers too, sometimes in the $225-250 neighborhood. Both stand a pretty good chance of basically doubling your graphics horsepower. If you can get that 9800XT working again, it should sell for at least $100.
Click to expand...

Theres so many good deals out there right now that even if you cleaned up your 9800xt and got it working, I think it would be a good time to upgrade. Even overpriced retailers like Bestbuy are dropping the prices on their cards lately (I got my x850pro for less than newegg price).

**Looking at Dougs HDD space in his sig and wonders if he has the first 10 years of the internet backed up in his basement..
 
people have had great success with acetone and a blow dryer but it might be too late for that, sorry for your loss but next time use a funnel. If you don't have 1

take an empty ketchup squirt bottle and cut it in half ;)
 
Yeah, I ordered an x800xt right after I murdered it. :) Yeah, i have learned my lesson, don't play with your WC when you are half asleep...
 
Flashing the bios did nothing, I am at a total loss, I really don't know what to do if anything.
 
I think the board is jacked as well. With my 7000AGP in there, I keep getting an "NTLDR is missing, press ctrl+alt+delete to restart" message. I have gone into windows recovery console and replaced ntldr and ntdetect.com, but no luck. I'm about to say f*** it and go buy a new board+proc+card
 
Hrrrmmm. This is strange. I have 2 WD 80gb IDE's in here, when I set the master to single, and run it only, windows boots fine, but with the slave in place, it gives me NTLDR message. I replaced above stuff, and ran fixboot and fixmbr. Anyone have any idea?

*Edit*
Nevermind, copied ntldr and ntdetect to slave and it boots like a charm.
 
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