I had my 9800GT working fine till last afternoon but now when I turn on my PC, the display says it gets no signal. But I hear Windows is starting up, and the usual pop up sound from my antivirus software at the startup. No long beeps. I can even shutdown the system using shortcut keys from the desktop (even I don't see it). I tried using a different monitor, a different cable, tried removing and replugging the card but the problem stays the same. The card has 2 DVI outs but none of them are working. I don't see any bent or loosened pins, any damages near the slots (anyways I was using only one slot throughout all this time). The card is old more than a year and the warranty has been expired too. I'm a bit of a gamer and have played many graphic intensive games with the maximum possible graphics on this card but never had crashes, blue-screens or sudden restarts. Temps are OK. Is there anyway I can fix this? Or do I have to throw it out and buy a new one? Any help is appreciated... Core 2 Duo E7500 (2.93 GHz) Gigabyte G41 mobo 3GB RAM Foxconn 9800GT (512MB) --- Samsung SyncMater 2033 --- Windows 7
Take out the graphics card. Inspect for bad capacitors. If you find a bulging or bad ones, replace it. Happened to me last Saturday. I thought it was the monitor. Now, I am using the onboard gfx for the meantime.
No, there aren't any. All look good. I removed the dust on the card once but still there is some trapped between the pins of the caps. Could it be the problem? It's not easy to remove but I'll give it a try...
I tried my friend's card (EVGA 240GT) and the same happened. Could hear Windows starting up but still no signal to the monitor. So I guess it's related to the mobo... But what could make the video signal lost while all other components are doing fine? Onboard graphics are working. Could it be the PCI-E slot?
Hi, It's possible it could be a problem with the motherboard, but it also may be the power supply. If the power supply is starting to faulter it may not be providing enough power to the video card, so it will not initialize the video. Do you have another power supply that you can test in your computer? Maybe borrow your friend's just to test?
I have a 550W PSU so I have to find a same kind of PSU to test, right? I'm not sure whether my friend's PSU will be enough to run my card. It's 400W or around 350W (ya, he has a 240GT but it doesn't need any extra power cables attached but my 9800GT needs 2 of them). If there's something wrong with the power supply, could Windows come to its desktop like this? I forgot to mention, don't know whether it's related to this problem... but since last October, as I remember, I was having a problem of system getting freezed for a few minutes and coming back to live with a message saying Nvidia drivers stopped working and recovered... Didn't happen too often & never happened while running a 3D app (a game). Currently having 257.21 drivers.
Hi, You would want a power supply with a smiliar wattage rating or higher, and it needs to have the 6 pin connector to plug into your card. Alot of cards will not work if they dont have the extra power. It has happened before where the computer comes up but not the video and it was because of the power supply. You could also try doing a minimal boot before you replace the power supply to see if you get any video to come up. Boot with just the CPU, powersupply, 1 stick of ram, and video connected, and disconnect everything else. If it doesnt come up still, it has to be one of those few items causing the problem.
Got another PSU (500W) and I tried as you suggested (minimal boot). Still no luck. Tried a different stick of RAM. Nothing. So it's the mother-board, isn't it? Didn't find any bad capacitors or visible damages on it though. Now I remember I had this issue once too (2,3 months ago)... But got it working back after a few boots. Thought it was a loose connector. I still have the warranty of the mobo. But it will take 3-4 weeks to get a replacement and now I'm currently stuck with some projects, so I have to wait until I finish them off (at least I have the onboard vga). Got any other tricks to try meantime? Thank you very much everybody for the help!
Hi, I would say the next thing to replace then would be the system board seeing as a known good video card will not work in it, and different ram and different power supply made no difference doing a minimal boot. The mother board would be next, then lastly processor.
