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PC Tech GAF - Help please

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Mohonky

Member
My PC is playing up and I'm not sure which component to point the finger at (probably the operator).

Anyway its a custom built unit; 700watt power supply, Gigabyte x58a-ud3r mobo, 6gb DDR3 ram, Gigabyte GTX570 gpu and Win7 64bit operating system.

Problem I am having is getting video on screen. Basically I get nothing from DVI or HDMI. Just get a 'no signal' on screen. So swapped out the GPU for an old 8800GT I had laying around. Problem solved. Must be faulty video card.

So I take the video card back to store under warranty. They test the GPU, runs fine. They run it a couple of times and find no problems. Ok that's weird. Get it back, plug it in, all is good; card runs fine. Odd.

I always leave my PC on, so I wake up today, and notice PC has turned off. Turn it on, no video signal again. Hmm. Pull card out, check connections, plug it back in and still no video signal. Again pull the 8800GT out, plug it in and all works again.

So now I am at a loss. Card appeared to fail, sent it back, tested fine, put it back in and works. Now again randomly, it doesn't work again. Or at least, I'm not getting a video signal. Computer starts normally, I get the windows chime as the computer boots up, fan on the GTX570 works but no video. Exactly the same as last time so now I'm not sure what it playing up.
 
Do you have the proper power connection to the new card? Newegg shows the 8800 as needing a 6 pin connector from the PSU while the GTX 570 looks like it needs 2 6-pin connections.

Check the box for the 570 for a 2 peripheral into 1 6 pin adapter if you PSU doesn't have two proper 6 pin connections. Not as ideal as using 2 proper 6 pin adapters, but it does work.
 

Stasis

Member
Is this a new issue with a PC set-up that hasn't changed at all, in terms of parts and behavior? Like, it's always had the same hardware, and you've always left it on overnight, etc?

It could be a faulty power line on one of the 6-pins... it could be overheating...

To rule out the other 6-pin, try running your 8800 on each 6-pin for a long period of time, seeing if it replicates the issue. I wanna say it could be related to your PC hibernating/sleeping (if it does) somehow, but I'd have no idea why.
 

Mohonky

Member
Is this a new issue with a PC set-up that hasn't changed at all, in terms of parts and behavior? Like, it's always had the same hardware, and you've always left it on overnight, etc?

It could be a faulty power line on one of the 6-pins... it could be overheating...

To rule out the other 6-pin, try running your 8800 on both 6-pins for a long period of time, seeing if it replicates the issue. I wanna say it could be related to your PC hibernating/sleeping (if it does) somehow, but I'd have no idea why.

Nah PC hasn't changed in terms of hardware and no real changes to software; this cutting out hasn't coincided with any firmware updates or anything like that.

The only thing I can think is that both times this has happen, it rained through the night. I don't know if that's coincidence or not. No burnt smell on any components. Maybe there is some moisture causing problems.

I have actually considered one of the 6 pin connections maybe faulty. I will be alternating it on my 8800GT over the evening. Checked both connections for any problems and nothing I can see on the connector end so I will just alternate it tonight also to make sure both connections are running fine.
 

big_z

Member
i had something similar happen with my 9800gtx before it fully crapped out. basically the card is going bad. run fur mark and see what happens, usually extra stress will get it to act up.
 

Mohonky

Member
Now tested second power connection pin, also working fine so both connection seem to be stable.

Maybe the power supply is running out of juice but that would seem odd as overnight the computer is hibernating, if power was an issue I would expect it during games etc.

So again not sure whats happening.
 
I can't offer a solution to your problem but I have had an odd problem with two different 570's.

The first one I had for five months or so and started getting artifacts in games. As I was testing games it kept getting worse so I RMA'd it and while waiting I ended up getting another 570, this time a different brand. Everything is fine with it for awhile and then all of a sudden I start seeing artifacts in games and I even lose the picture completely. So I send it back to Amazon and have it quickly exchanged, the replacement is fine for awhile but I get the same problem once again. I turn off my PC, turn it back on and everything is fine. No artifacts at all in any games.

I got very curious and start doing a lot of research. It took me a long time but I finally found a topic on the Nvidia forums where other people were having this issue. No one knew for certain what could be causing it but some people on there much more knowledgable than me seemed to have narrowed it down to a problem with the card getting stuck in a position where it's not getting enough voltage and the only way to fix it is by completely turning the computer off.

It seemed like a lot of the people having this issue were ones who always left their PC on, which I did. I've started turning it off when I'm done with it for the day and haven't had this issue since.

As I said, I don't know what your issue is but I see some similarities to what mine was. Try turning off your computer when you're done with it for awhile and see if the issue returns.
 

Mohonky

Member
Fixed it, or at least, I believe so.

The power connectors I was using were the 6pin but coming from one supply so they were split into a Y for the board. When I got my case built they had a bunch of other leads coming from the power supply zip tied up. Figure there had to be another 6pin connector in there and sure enough, another lead with a Y configured 6pin connection

So I used 1 lead per point on the card and it fired up first time so I can only assume maybe the card wasn't getting sufficient power from 1 lead.

It does beg the question though, why it worked for nearly a year on the one connection.

So coincindence? Dunno.

But it's going again.
 

Stasis

Member
That's definitely strange. I have a 570 myself and haven't experienced or heard of any of these power/artifact issues, but this thread will probably come in handy if I ever do!

Update thread again if you experience more problems, I'd be curious to know the outcome.
 
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