Did I just fry my video card?Whoa! Maybe not!!

[Muse]

I spent the last couple of hours installing my new Zalman ZM-80C
heat-pipe onto my BFG ti4600 video card. To do that, I had to remove the
HSF from the card. The fan came off easily but the HS didn't. I tried to
pry it off with a screwdriver but it was stuck on pretty hard. I had no
clue how to proceed. The Zalman instructions didn't address that stuff.
I reasoned, that if I heat the chip up some, the adhesive would loosen
some and it would be easier to pry off the HS. So, I installed the card
and started the machine. I only had it on for 20 or 30 seconds max, I
figure. At first it looked screwy. Zeroes running from top to bottom,
scrolling. I saw some other stuff in there, the typical boot
information. Maybe some error messages, I don't know. I may have reset
it, I can't remember. I stopped the machine and took out the card and
pried the HS off. My strategy of loosening the adhesive seemed to have
worked and I just hoped that I didn't fry the GPU. I figured maybe that
weird stuff was because the fan wasn't attached.

I got the heat-pipe on and it's doing the same thing when I try to boot
to Windows 2000. Starting from a cold start the boot sequence looks
ordinary but as Windows starts to load and the Windows logo appears,
there's some vertical lines that come and go, then a clear Windows
startup logo, then my monitor goes blank! Go into BIOS setup and
some letters are wrong. There's also a lot of extraneous characters,
for instance a LOT of zeros all over the screen!

I guess I have to buy another video card, huh?

 

[zebra14]

Unfortunately for you it sounds that way. If everything was done right, none of the symptoms you describe should have been apparent. Maybe this will give you and excuse to get a more powerful card, although what you have/had was no slouch.

 

[Rage187]

you should have put it in a ziplock bag and into the freezer.

It weakens the bond from the thermal adhesive.

and yeah, sounds like your card is fried.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Rage187
you should have put it in a ziplock bag and into the freezer.

It weakens the bond from the thermal adhesive.

and yeah, sounds like your card is fried.

How does the freezer thing work? Do you let it come to room temperature before you try to pry the HS off the GPU?

 

[Rage187]

Nah, after its been in the freezer for like 20-30mins, pull it out and use a piece of dental floss.

pull it between the HS and the chip and it should eventually work its way through.

 

[Muse]

WTF, it's working?

Needless to say, I was bummed. I was mad at myself for doing such a bonehead thing, OK? I was resigned to having to get another video card and hatching plans.

But, ... this morning I decided, just for the hell of it to put the card in my other PC and try to boot with it in the system. Ya know what? It's so great to have a second system. You can test components by swapping, is just one of the reasons.

Well, I connect my video via the analog VGA and it appears to be working AOK, at least so far. What does this mean? I do not know. When it wasn't working in the other system (Baby Rigzilla in my sig), I had both the analog and DVI connected. I guess I'll put it back in Baby Rigzilla and continue testing.

I was thinking to myself just before I did this: The HS was still on there. How could the presence of that tiny fan make that much difference in just 20-30 seconds of use? How could it burn out in 10 seconds like it seemed to do? I mean fans fail on video cards all the time. They don't burn out in 10 seconds, do they?

Anybody have a take on what is really going on here? Thanks very much for your suggestions, input, wisdom, etc. :disgust::Q:brokenheart::shocked:

Edit: So, I turn off the machine and hook up the DVI output instead to my LCD. It's still working. Fabulous. Now, to put it back in Baby Rigzilla. What is going on? Maybe it was a BIOS thing. Just don't know...

Another edit: I put the card back in the original machine (Baby Rigzilla) and it seems to be working absolutely perfectly. None of the sh!t that was happening yesterday.WTFIGO? Anybody got a clue what happened? TIA! - not feeling so stupid this morning.... (but still don't know what went wrong).

 

[zebra14]

You're fortunate and it's not wise to question the gods in things such as this! (smile!)

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: zebra14
You're fortunate and it's not wise to question the gods in things such as this! (smile!)

All I can do my friend is laugh. :laugh: