Video card is destroyed? Stopped working and a few capacitors are slit open?

S

ShoeLace

Gawd
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
650
I'm not sure what's wrong to be honest. Out of the blue my display started to go crazy until my machine locks up.

It would start off with "fake" dead pixels appearing on the screen followed shortly after by what I can only describe as a rainbow matrix of death. Similar to when you try and set your refresh rate too high on a CRT and it goes nuts, except I'm using an LCD. It just scrolls random colors vertically and obviously can't be good. Then the machine locks up.

So far this happened twice and after it occured the first time it happened about 20 seconds after rebooting into windows the second time. Also the windows XP loading screen was slightly distorted looking too but the POST data was fine.

I have 2 LCDs hooked up and both of them had the same messed up effect.

After it happened initially I took out the card and cleaned the fan, etc.. The fan is definitely working.

While cleaning the fan I noticed 4 of the capacitors are actually cracked on top. It doesn't look like they exploded or were wrongfully broken though. There is a triangle-like pattern sliced ontop of it as if someone did it with a knife. The card is a 7600 GT.

Do you guys think there's a very good chance it's my video card and not another part of my computer? I don't have a spare PCI-E card (or a 2nd set of ram) to test it.

I'm really not sure what to make of it. I've never seen a display spaz out like this before so I'm hoping it's not my RAM. The fact that it works fine during the POST and not in windows worries me though.
 
ShoeLace said:
While cleaning the fan I noticed 4 of the capacitors are actually cracked on top. It doesn't look like they exploded or were wrongfully broken though. There is a triangle-like pattern sliced ontop of it as if someone did it with a knife. The card is a 7600 GT.

Do you guys think there's a very good chance it's my video card and not another part of my computer? I don't have a spare PCI-E card (or a 2nd set of ram) to test it.
Click to expand...

That sounds like the caps on your 7600GT is bulging/blown. So you might have to get a new video card.
 
+1 to Danny's guess. If its a bfg xfx or evga you may be able to rma it and get back something more up to date.
 
I don't have a dig camera to take an exact picture but luckily Google has everything.

4 of them look almost exactly (I'd say a 99% match) like the top left capacitor in this picture:
Note: The very top left cracked one is the one I'm talking about
http://www.overclock.net/attachments/nvidia/86626d1225425462-blown-capacitor-caps.jpg

I might be under warranty from eVGA but it's pushing it. I ordered the parts [NewEgg] in August 2007.

Edit:
I'm not going to turn the machine on anymore until I get a new card but using your best guess do you think it had any negative effect on other components?
 
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No luck on the warranty/RMA. Guy said since I didn't register the item on their site within 30 days of purchasing it the warranty is only for 1 year.

Pretty strange customer service. I told him the problem and he didn't even try to con me into buying a new one directly or ask if I had any other questions. He just told me they can't do anything about it and I'm out of luck.
 
Always register your hardware. Always always. More and more companies are requiring this for full warranty anymore. All the "big 3" for Nvidia hardware do it; XFX, BFG, EVGA.
 
Yeah the 30 day notice isn't anywhere in my documentation. I guess the time limit changed when they changed their policy a few months ago?

After a bit of researching I found a few people who had the same problem so I called them back and this time a different rep told me to RMA it on their site and they'll take care of it. I'm covered for about 3 weeks.

+1 for eVGA.
 
I always wondered about the score marks on top of caps. This thread made me think. Maybe they are so the cap will split instead of holding the pressure in until it explodes? Anyone more knowledgeable know if that is correct?
 
ShoeLace said:
I'm not sure what's wrong to be honest. Out of the blue my display started to go crazy until my machine locks up.

It would start off with "fake" dead pixels appearing on the screen followed shortly after by what I can only describe as a rainbow matrix of death. Similar to when you try and set your refresh rate too high on a CRT and it goes nuts, except I'm using an LCD. It just scrolls random colors vertically and obviously can't be good. Then the machine locks up.

So far this happened twice and after it occurred the first time it happened about 20 seconds after rebooting into windows the second time. Also the windows XP loading screen was slightly distorted looking too but the POST data was fine.

I have 2 LCDs hooked up and both of them had the same messed up effect.

After it happened initially I took out the card and cleaned the fan, etc.. The fan is definitely working.

While cleaning the fan I noticed 4 of the capacitors are actually cracked on top. It doesn't look like they exploded or were wrongfully broken though. There is a triangle-like pattern sliced ontop of it as if someone did it with a knife. The card is a 7600 GT.

Do you guys think there's a very good chance it's my video card and not another part of my computer? I don't have a spare PCI-E card (or a 2nd set of ram) to test it.

I'm really not sure what to make of it. I've never seen a display spaz out like this before so I'm hoping it's not my RAM. The fact that it works fine during the POST and not in windows worries me though.
Click to expand...
:eek:

silent-circuit said:
Always register your hardware. Always always. More and more companies are requiring this for full warranty anymore. All the "big 3" for Nvidia hardware do it; XFX, BFG, EVGA.
Click to expand...
Yes sir, a good lesson learned man. Happened to me as well.

Jakalwarrior said:
I always wondered about the score marks on top of caps. This thread made me think. Maybe they are so the cap will split instead of holding the pressure in until it explodes? Anyone more knowledgeable know if that is correct?
Click to expand...
Yes you are correct about the slits. I have replaced many motherboards and few video cards. But, when a capacitor breaks open, oozing from slit, you can kiss it goodbye. Unless you are really comfortable with soldering then may want to try this…
You can cut half of the CAP, but leave the 2 wire leads coming from the PCB sticking up (due to multi-layer PCB). Find a replacement CAP of same values and solder it to the leads. Maybe able to save some money for now. This has worked for me on 3 motherboards so far with NO bsod for over 1 year.
You card is shot for sure sir, but feel free to try the DIY or buy a new card. Just trying to save you a few $bones$
 
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