AIW 9800 PRO intermittent vertical striping problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mad Martian
  • Start date Start date
M

Mad Martian

My card worked fine for a month. Now I am getting an intermittent vertical
striping problem - see www.madmartian.com/special/AIW9800PRO.JPG. Could this
be heat related or is my card bad? It does not happen all the time. When it
does, I have to cold boot as warm booting does not make the problem go away.
 
Regardless if it only happens when the card heats up, I would demand a
replacement from ATI. You could try reinstalling the newest drivers,
but it looks like its a defect in the manufacturing. For experimental
purposes, you may want to buy another AIW 9800 at Circuit City and try
it in your system.....if the same problem pops up, then you know it
aint the card that's defective. CC has a no-hassle 15-day returns
policy so you can get your money back after you've finished
experimenting.
 
I got the latest drivers. At first I thought it fixed the problem, but no,
it always goes away if I leave the computer off for a minute. It doesn't
come back for several days. I have another problem - my system has a hard
hang (mouse cursor and everything freezes solid, no bringing up task
manager) about once a week. It is possible this is also caused by the
graphics card. No way to be sure. I'm going to invest in a cyclone fan:

http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_cooling.php?ProdID=77094

and see if the problem goes away. Admittedly the case I purchased, the Antec
Sonata, is made for quiet cooling, not high-end graphics card cooling. I
also just cleaned the fan filter on the case, which may help as it did need
cleaning. Note that neither problem occurred during the first month of use.

-Mike
 
I believe I have confirmed I have a thermal problem with the AIW 9800 Pro
and will need to warranty return the card. Does ATI ever send a card out
before you send your card back in, or am I screwed out of using my graphic
card for 3 weeks? What do people do in this situation? I don't have an extra
card lying around.

-Mike
 
They offerred me no option other than to return the card first. I did ask.

By the way - the cyclone fan is getting returned. It actually caused the
card to fail even faster, as part of it blocks the ati card and the fans
don't line up. The only thing that has helped is leaving the case open with
an external desk fan blowing on the card. I ocassionally get some garbage on
the screen, but it clears up when I move windows around rather than getting
worse. I am certain now the card is overheating.

My solution has been to purchase an AIW 9600 Pro, what I would have done in
the first place had it existed at the time. I do not play games - I do video
editing and TV recording. Once I get the replacement AIW 9800 Pro from ATI I
will likely sell it on ebay.

-Mike
 
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