Video card fan 'reving'

M

MadGeek451

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 25, 2002
Messages
164
I bought an EVGA 9800 GT in January of this year - works great, no problems. I move, don't plug in the computer for a while, and now when I do, the video card fan will "rev" like it's trying to get up to speed and can't make it. It goes through this a few times, the motherboard beeps (longer than the standard beep), and things proceed as normal (as indicated by the HD LED), except there is no video. Swapping the card out with something older, everything works fine.

What do y'all recommend? I feel like it's a problem with that video card or the power, but I don't feel like anything done during moving (or time off) would have impacted those things.
 
is the fan/heatsink clogged with dust? Normal blowing on it will not dislodge this dust, you must use compressed air, or physically wipe it. (make sure the fan doesn't spin while you are cleaning this).
 
jeremyshaw said:
is the fan/heatsink clogged with dust? Normal blowing on it will not dislodge this dust, you must use compressed air, or physically wipe it. (make sure the fan doesn't spin while you are cleaning this).
Click to expand...

There's really not much in there - that said, I'll still take it in to work tomorrow and blow it out with some air.
 
When you swapped out the 9800 GT for a older card, does the older card have a 6 pin connection also? It might require less power than the 9800 GT.
What PSU are you using and how old is it?
It could be the card or just coincidence the PSU is on it's way out.
 
Kowan said:
When you swapped out the 9800 GT for a older card, does the older card have a 6 pin connection also? It might require less power than the 9800 GT.
What PSU are you using and how old is it?
It could be the card or just coincidence the PSU is on it's way out.
Click to expand...

The older video card (7600 or something?) does not require the 6pin.

The PSU is a PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W purchased at the same time for the sake of running the card.

Since the next question is going to be about the power demands...
  • Core 2 Duo 2.13 (usually at 3.0 but currently at stock due to this)
  • 8 gb ddr2
  • 2 Raptors
  • 1 other hdd
  • 2 optical drives
  • SATA card
  • TV card

Additionally, I want to point out that the other video card was in there as well and isn't anymore. And, all of this was running happily until the move.
 
Have you tried using the other 6 pin cable from the PSU to rule out a faulty cable?
Might be time to turn in a support ticket to EVGA to get a RMA started.
 
MadGeek451 said:
How on earth would I set the fan speed? It won't boot, at least, not in any useful means...
Click to expand...

Ah sorry, I completely missed that! I would try the above trying the different PCI-e cable. Also maybe try stripping your system down to the bare essentials (cpu/1 stick of ram/boot drive/psu/gpu) and see what happens then. I really doubt that PCP&C 750W is having any trouble powering that system but it can't hurt to try to eliminate different parts.
 
jeremyshaw said:
is the fan/heatsink clogged with dust? Normal blowing on it will not dislodge this dust, you must use compressed air, or physically wipe it. (make sure the fan doesn't spin while you are cleaning this).
Click to expand...

Blew it off with compressed air today at lunch. No luck.

Kowan said:
Have you tried using the other 6 pin cable from the PSU to rule out a faulty cable?
Click to expand...

Yes, tried that today at lunch too. No luck.

Shadowssong said:
Also maybe try stripping your system down to the bare essentials (cpu/1 stick of ram/boot drive/psu/gpu) and see what happens then. I really doubt that PCP&C 750W is having any trouble powering that system but it can't hurt to try to eliminate different parts.
Click to expand...

That's next on the list.

Also, as luck would have it, new parts for a new build for a friend came in today, so I'll actually have a new mobo/psu to try it on. Unfortunately, the PSU is a bit small so there is already some doubt, but it can't hurt to stick the video card in there and give it a shot... right?
 
MadGeek451 said:
Also, as luck would have it, new parts for a new build for a friend came in today, so I'll actually have a new mobo/psu to try it on. Unfortunately, the PSU is a bit small so there is already some doubt, but it can't hurt to stick the video card in there and give it a shot... right?
Click to expand...

Doubt it would hurt, if anything it will either not boot, or it will just revert to a much lower clock. I had an old 7600GT agp and sometimes it would say that it is clocking down 2d mode because power is insufficient (that's when I replaced the PSU). Still ran, just would freeze on 3d stuff.
 
Sounds like a card going bad to me. One of my old 9800gx2s exhibited this behavior and I ended up RMA'ing it. Honestly I became pretty lazy about the whole thing and realized sometimes it's just so much less hassle to RMA the thing instead of trying to troubleshoot it. EVGA RMA is always awesome, so you should have minimal worries about that.

EDIT: the problem with the card was something undiagnosable, by the way. I might have shocked it with static electricity while handling it or something, but one day it started doing exactly what you were saying and nothing I did could fix it. The rest of the system, of course, turned out to be fine as the new card I received worked without a hitch.
 
MurderCityDevil said:
Sounds like a card going bad to me. One of my old 9800gx2s exhibited this behavior and I ended up RMA'ing it. Honestly I became pretty lazy about the whole thing and realized sometimes it's just so much less hassle to RMA the thing instead of trying to troubleshoot it. EVGA RMA is always awesome, so you should have minimal worries about that.

EDIT: the problem with the card was something undiagnosable, by the way. I might have shocked it with static electricity while handling it or something, but one day it started doing exactly what you were saying and nothing I did could fix it. The rest of the system, of course, turned out to be fine as the new card I received worked without a hitch.
Click to expand...

That's a real relief. The only good RMA service I've had was Western Digital and Seagate, everything else was crap. If I didn't happen to have the parts handy, I'd have already started barking up that tree.

Honestly, my biggest concern was trying to nail down whether it was a PSU issue or a video card issue - thats why I came here. I don't come here often anymore, but [H] has never let me down.
 
Striped all the non-essentials out and still a no go - will test in the other machine once it's built.
 
Well, went through the RMA. I was very impressed with the support staff, and the RMA process itself is thusfar very smooth.

Thanks for the help, everyone!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top