Is my radeon going bad.

H

hector48

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 20, 2002
Messages
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My computer is doing something really wierd. Lately once in a while the display gets all wierd like alternating bands of "color giberish" and the only way I can get it is to reboot. It's sort of like the really serious artifacting you get when you core overclock. But my card is running at stock like I've always had it. It has adequate cooling cause i have an antec 1080 with like 6 panaflos. It's been getting worse cause it's been happening more often. Oh it's a Radeon 9500 Pro I have. Anyone have any idea what's wrong?
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Is the fan on the card working? I've seen many a fans die and cause problems like that if not burn the GPU up.
 
I'm not trying to disagree, but I thought that color 'banding' and such was a memory issue, or perhaps a ramdac problem (as opposed to gpu)... either would result in needing to RMA.

I'd tell you:
1. check your tempuratures thoroughly.
2. try rolling back / forward drivers. probably has nothing to do with it, but I would make sure.
3. physically remove the card from the agp slot and ensure that the contacts on the card are clean. reinstall the card ensuring that the card is seated properly and secured to the case.
4. try the card in a different box and see if the problem persists. if it does, you should look into an RMA. if you can't reproduce the problem on another boxen, check your bios thoroughly and make sure nothing has changed.
 
also, is this banding and discoloration only in games, or does it happen in 2d (desktop) as well?

does this physically slow down or lock your system? if yes, at what points does this occur?
 
Well I haven't tried in 3d cause when the problems occur it's in the desktop and I just reboot it. The system hasn't locked on me either. I just can't use it like that cause I can barely see the real deskop. I'll have to try looking at the card when I come home. About the RMA the card is an original ATI, not sure if I am still covered, also my concern is if I do have to RMA it won't i get stuck with like a 9600 or possibly a 9200 since the 9500 PRo is disco? If it were replaced I would think the = is the 9600XT according to benchmarks I have seen but they don't think that way right? Just in case some asks cause I know it's an issue to the power supply I am using is an TruPower 430 so at least it isn't a generic one.
 
i'm actually just buying my first ati in a long time, not too sure what they're return policy is...

from what i had read, the 9500 pro was a real gem, and most could o/c to 9700 speeds....

out of curiosity, how long have you had the card / are you overclocking? .. what speed?
 
Not really sure when I bought it. I overclocked like a day and set it back, and I don't plan on overclocking whatever I wind up getting.
 
Originally posted by hector48
Not really sure when I bought it.
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sounds like its been working for quite some time. if you moved the case it could have shifted the card thus making it wig out.

if you installed any other hardware since, its possible that you shifted the card yourself, or even delivered a static electricity shock to the card corrupting ram, or the bios chip, or fried a resistor, etc.

it could be any number of things. i'd look into the things i said before, and like Jrmicon said, make sure your cooling is operational before bugging out.

good luck.
 
Originally posted by hector48
My computer is doing something really wierd. Lately once in a while the display gets all wierd like alternating bands of "color giberish" and the only way I can get it is to reboot. It's sort of like the really serious artifacting you get when you core overclock. But my card is running at stock like I've always had it. It has adequate cooling cause i have an antec 1080 with like 6 panaflos. It's been getting worse cause it's been happening more often. Oh it's a Radeon 9500 Pro I have. Anyone have any idea what's wrong?
`
Click to expand...

sorry to hear that. Hope you get it fixed man.
 
Well I took the card out and looked at it closely and nothing looked wierd. The fan is working. When I booted before I took the card out it did it almost as soon as it came up. After I put it back in it tried to do it but not as bad like it only sort of blurred in the same place where the bars come out. I took pics of what is happening if it helps but I don't know how I can get them onto here.
 
Originally posted by hector48
After I put it back in it tried to do it but not as bad like it only sort of blurred in the same place where the bars come out.
Click to expand...

i would definitely try this card in another pc before you go any further. if in fact its a hardware problem, the banding should show up before you even install ati drivers. try getting it going in another box and see what happens, let us know how you do.
 
could be monitor or psu maybe ...just guesses .. do as suggested and try card in a diff system if possible or try diff vidcard in your system and see what it does
 
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