Gangstas & wise folk:

I may be new to youse guys, but I ain't no bonehead. I been putting PCs together (and, more funner, tearing em apart) since the 286 CPU was the cutting edge and broadband was 300 baud.

But I never saw a problem like I had the other day whilst trying to install a spankin' new FX5900XT into my rig. After VERY CAREFULLY removing all signs of the ATI Radeon 9500 np that had preceded it in the AGP slot, and temporarily plain-vanillaing the adapter driver in WinXPPro's control panel, I VERY CAREFULLY inserted the (large!) NVidia card into the AGP hole and turned the beast back on.

Immediately I started noticing weird little smeary purple and pink video artifacts on the text in the BIOS screens, and when XP booted and started demanding driver disks, matters got weirder: whole fields of pink rosette-like artifacts covered half my monitor screen that would occassionally shimmer and move themselves around a bit, and swaths of magenta pinstripes graced the rest of the screen.

Now I could still see my desktop and could execute commands and programs, but the artifact fields would change shape, color or density as I did so. This was with the 5900XT (and the rest of my PC) at stock speeds, well cooled and (I thought) well powered enough (a trusty PowMax 400w PSU that's served me well for over a year). The card was even getting its very own power line direct from the PSU (i.e., not sharing one witha HDD or somesuch).

But the worst was yet to come. After installing Nvidia's very lastest drivers and rebooting, WinXP Pro refused to load at all, giving an error msg that some basic Windows file had been corrupted. An attempted repair of the OS proved futile; a subsequent re-format and re-installation of Win XP Pro cost me about 2 gigs of precious data that was now utterly inaccessible. Waahhhh!

I removed the FX5900XT and replaced it with my Old Reliable, a GF4 4200 TI 8xAGP, and after reinstalling everything, it all works tolerably well....

Could it be that the FX5900XT, a known power whore, was trying its damnedest to let me know it needed a more robust PSU? Or does it just sound like a bad vidcard & I should get a replacement from XFX?
I await thy wisdom in these arcane matters, wise ones....


--- The Waltz King.

Quote: Originally Posted by The Waltz King Gangstas & wise folk: I may be new to youse guys, but I ain't no bonehead. I been putting PCs together (and, more funner, tearing em apart) since the 286 CPU was the cutting edge and broadband was 300 baud.

First ...WELCOME TO PR
Second..I almost flamed you for bragging about your skillz before you spoke....but I am feeling patient today....
Third...Your Video card sounds like it needs a good ole fashioned RMA...However...when my 9800PRO did artifacting like that for me it was due to memory overheating...
Is it possible the SWAMP COOLER that was installed on that honking card wasn't installed properly or that the memory just isn't getting suffiicent airflow...

Also the 5900's are known to artifact at random usually cleaning the card edges with and eraser and blowing out your agp slot helps...sometimes tweaking the card a little eitheir way makes it work too..if this is the case you have a bad pcb and it needs RMA...hope some of this helps ya....
Good luck and keep us informed...
Remember RMA is your friend...
Oh yeah ATI KICKS A$$

Power issue, heat issue, or bad card. Isn't software related since it occurs immediately upon posting. I think you should be able to figure it out from here.

yeah Welcome to PR...
I take it "300 baud" ain't a fat chick and a 286 aint just a piece of ceramic where you find good BGA ramsink stock?
Man learn somethin' new everyday!

Damn, I am impressed! 3 replies in the time it took me check both my e- and s- mail. And useful too! Thankee, thankee....

I think one thing I am defnitly gonna do is swap out the PSU for something a bit more stable and hairy-chested. Got a foo on Ebay sellin a Vantec Stealth 470 for $60 (so far), I'll see if I cain't come thru the winner on that one. Otherwise it'll be my old pal NewEgg....

Since I have next to nowt to lose now, I'll try the FX5900XT with the brawnier PSU and see how the bastich likes it. If it still no go, it's RMA time baybee!!

Thanks agin, homeez, I'll be back often. Just not braggin up FRONT in future.


--- The Waltz King.

I dont have an answer for ya but the same thing happened to me with my MSI 5900XT, I RMA'd it and the next one worked kosher, or is that kosherly ?