8800 GTX, is there a light at the end of the tunnel ?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Pawwilon, Jul 24, 2012.

  1. Pawwilon

    Pawwilon Private E-2

    Sup ya'll :)
    I have recently got my hands on an old 8800GTX, which from the outside, is in a pretty good shape. I have decided to change the thermal paste/pads on it, and so I did, ensuring both have good contact with the heatsink and parts they're meant to cool. After connecting it to a PC, I have found the following:
    8800 GTX as only GPU:
    vertical columns consisting of RED, dotted lines like so:
    - - - - -
    - - - - -
    - - - - -
    - - - - -
    - - - - -
    - - - - -

    :D

    appear few times across the screen, the computer manages to go past windows loading screen once per machine (tested on 2: WinXP 32 and Win7 64, 6 year old and 3 months old PCs respectively). During the 1st launch, GPU is not detected by nVidia drivers, and windows installs its own after a while.
    Upon restarting the PC, graphics card 'turns off' during windows loading screen. The screen goes blank with 'NO DVI INPUT'-like message, and that's it (having G15 keyboard, I can determine via the LCD screen status whether the boot has completed - it doesn't). again, process looks the same on both PCs.
    Having the 8800GTX connected as secondary card (non-sli), the computer successfully turns on, but drivers (determined by a nvxxx.dll file stated) freeze the computer, and throw a BSOD about 10 seconds after that.
    My question is: can I bring this card back to life?
    I can re-try this if you want the full file name, but you'll have to instruct me how to capture BSODs, as it stays for fraction of a second.
    Thanks for any help in advance.
    P.S: It's from asus, although I believe is a reference design, with bios version (on a sticker): 60.80.08.00.37, cant verify if its true though.
    EDIT:
    I want this card to be able to run on the 6 yr old WinXP 32 pc, if it matters.
     
  2. Goldenskull

    Goldenskull I can't follow the rules

    Sounds like to me a heat issue.But can be wrong.

    Are you sure you placed the fans and every thing back on correctly.
     
  3. Pawwilon

    Pawwilon Private E-2

    Well, the PCB does get warm to very warm just below the chip, but the problem is that the boot up sequence is always the same, regardless of running time:
    based on XP example,
    Power button> Dotted horizontal lines during splash > vertical lines during bios stuff > Dotted horizontal lines during widows loading > slight lag > black screen + fans turning full speed, each and every time.
    I have cleaned the heatsink fins with air, same with the fan thing (it's not a fan, whats the name of it?)
     
  4. collinsl

    collinsl MajorGeek

    It sounds to me like the card got fried at some point before. Sorry!
     

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