Hi all,

I've had a PixelView GeForce 5600 VIVO (AGP, 256MB) for a couple years now. Back in May or June I updated my drivers, and then a short while later I started noticing color problems, for example the colors in videos (mpg, avi, wmv) would be severely posterized. I tried rolling back the drivers and playing around with video settings for a couple weeks, at which time I opened up the case and discovered that the el-cheapo fan on the card was not running. I'd also read that these new nVidia drivers cause the card to run hotter than before, so I'm afraid my 5600 has cooked itself!

I pulled the card and stewed about it for a couple months, then decided to spring for a Zalman heat pipe, figuring that if it doesn't help this card, I can always buy some more thermal grease and slap it on the next. Now, sadly, the computer won't even boot with the GeForce installed!

I took my time with the heat pipe, was very careful of static discharge and any contact with the surface mount components and board traces, so I'm finding it hard to believe that I damaged the card during the process. The only thing that was a bit of a struggle, was removing the old heat sink that spans two RAM chips.

So what do I do now? It behaves a lot like a bus problem, because I don't get any POST or video signal when I try to start the machine -- the only thing I get is the keyboard flash. I've tried a dozen times to reseat the card, make sure those monster heat sinks/pipes aren't butting up against something on the motherboard, etc. The motherboard is an Intel D845GERG2 (support.intel.com) with a 2.5GHz P4 and 1GB RAM, and I'm running Windows XP home edition.

thanks!

Mike

I'd say the easiest thing to do, if available, is put in a known working video card to make sure it's not the system but is definently your card. That way you won't pull your hair out troubleshooting your mobo.

Thanks for your quick response. My wife has a very similar system, so I pulled her GeForce 6200 out (she hates it when I do this stuff) and dropped it into my machine. It worked fine. I then put my 5600 (w/ the heatpipe) into her machine, and it will not boot. That confirms the problem is with the 5600, so now I'm wondering if there's any way to troubleshoot the card?

Also, I noticed that the 5600 has two cable connectors on it -- one is for the fan, which is now no longer used with the heatpipe and the other is a 4-prong like the mini floppy power connector but smaller. Is there any chance this thing has a fail-safe to not boot when there's no fan load? Anyone know what the other connector is for?

thanks again,

Mike

I couldn't find anything definite, but I think the extra connector is for a daughter card, kinda like the SLI versions available now.

I'm not aware of video cards having a safety diode like CPU's do, so chances are when the fan died your system kept plugging away, burning it up.

What gets me is that the "burning it up" part did not leave the card completely disabled. I'd been having color problems and I noticed the fan had stopped working, but the machine would still boot and run fine with the card in it, so long as I didn't need a lot of color. The boot problem only happened after removed the old heat sinks and put the new ones on.

Electronics are fickle things. My only guess is that it truly broke when it cooled off when you shut off your computer. (The expansion/contraction of heat up and cool down).

So now that I'm obviously in the market for a new video card :-? does anyone want to recommend a replacement for me? I've got around $200 to spend including shipping, so obviously I won't be getting top of the line. I had some bad times with a Radeon, so I'd prefer nVidia unless y'all can convince me otherwise. Who are the good OEMs for nVidia? I know I won't be buying another PixelView.. they never even responded to my support request. What do you think about a GeForce 6600 256MB?

You can check www.pricewatch.com for the latest prices. That way you can see where you can get the best price/performance card.

Personally, I haven't kept up on the latest and greatest since I haven't upgraded my PC in several years. However, www.anandtech.com usually has a review of the various video cards on the market w/ prices and benchmarks.