Is my graphics card bust?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Is my graphics card bust?

pico

54 posts

Master Geek

#89169 26-Aug-2011 19:59

Hi guys,

My graphics card in my HTPC was connected to my TV using a DVI to HDMI cable and has worked well for a year or more. The other day I noticed there were some pixels flashing on the screen and then after a reboot no signal was getting to the TV. I swapped the DVI cable to my laptop which worked fine eliminating the TV as a variable. So I tried the VGA port on the graphics card which does still work.

My question is, has the DVI port (or some part of the processing associated with this port) broken and could it be fixed supposing something simple has gone wrong or is there something deeper gone wrong with the card? The reason I ask is that I know that graphics cards card provide a basic low level graphics output at boot which is superceded by the more full featured graphics output later on.

Your thoughts are appreciated, I don't want to throw it away if there is something simple wrong with it and I don't want to spend a lot of money on it diagnosing what is wrong with it.

Cheers

Nety

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#512681 26-Aug-2011 20:24

First off there is no "fixing" of graphics cards unless maybe say a plug broke way from the PCB and even then not likely. If it is broken then it is time to replace it or if still covered by warranty then a warranty claim.

You have not mentioned if anything displays on screen when the PC posts?

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muppet

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#512685 26-Aug-2011 20:34

Is it an NVIDIA card? If so yes, tis probably toast sorry.

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

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askelon

879 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#512691 26-Aug-2011 20:51

Ive toasted quite a few in my htpc.. Little cases dont exactly help on the heat problems - Ive found fanless cards get hot enough to cook an egg ;)

pico

54 posts

Master Geek

#512706 26-Aug-2011 21:16

Nety: First off there is no "fixing" of graphics cards unless maybe say a plug broke way from the PCB and even then not likely. If it is broken then it is time to replace it or if still covered by warranty then a warranty claim.

You have not mentioned if anything displays on screen when the PC posts?

I said that the VGA port still works which translates to the POST working and boots into OS and just plain works.

PS anything can be fixed

danielm8

109 posts

Master Geek

#512708 26-Aug-2011 21:19

I had an issue where my VGA on my card worked (but had artifacts sometimes) but the DVI didn't work at all. I'm pretty sure it was the card's RAM died. Considering HTPC cases don't get good airflow, it's probably that.

Nety

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#512774 27-Aug-2011 08:56

pico:
I said that the VGA port still works which translates to the POST working and boots into OS and just plain works.

PS anything can be fixed

Sorry I meant do you get anything at post from the DVI side? and yes anything can get fixed but with computer components in general it is almost never cost effective to do so.

askelon

879 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#512788 27-Aug-2011 09:49

have you tried plugging in a normal monitor into the VGA port, getting it all going and seeing if you can get the TV working as a secondary screen? In saying that, yes its possible for the HDMI port to be faulty - I have a video card here (an old 8800GT) which works perfect on the VGA port but the HDMI stopped working one day and that was that. No physical damage etc. Just stopped.

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techricky

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#512803 27-Aug-2011 10:25

I have had a couple of Graphics card failures from Dried up electrolytic caps, symptoms being gradual screen corruption, driver lockups etc.. These were older fanless and did run quite hot!
Fortunately they were a quick 15min repair, a lot faster than getting a replacement card or machine in!
So sometimes you may get lucky..

pico

54 posts

Master Geek

#512855 27-Aug-2011 12:52

Nety:
pico:
I said that the VGA port still works which translates to the POST working and boots into OS and just plain works.

PS anything can be fixed

Sorry I meant do you get anything at post from the DVI side? and yes anything can get fixed but with computer components in general it is almost never cost effective to do so.

Yeah no worries, sorry for the slightly terse response. Regarding cost effectiveness that's why I thought I'd ask here as this would be a likely place to find out whether anyone had any luck repairing these.

techricky: I have had a couple of Graphics card failures from Dried up electrolytic caps, symptoms being gradual screen corruption, driver lockups etc.. These were older fanless and did run quite hot!
Fortunately they were a quick 15min repair, a lot faster than getting a replacement card or machine in!
So sometimes you may get lucky..

I was wondering whether one or more of the capacitors had died. It has around 5 of them on the board. I have a friend who is an electronics engineer so I might ask him whether its possible to test them and replace.

askelon: have you tried plugging in a normal monitor into the VGA port, getting it all going and seeing if you can get the TV working as a secondary screen? In saying that, yes its possible for the HDMI port to be faulty - I have a video card here (an old 8800GT) which works perfect on the VGA port but the HDMI stopped working one day and that was that. No physical damage etc. Just stopped.

Sounds like a very similar scenario to what happened with mine. I did try with both the TV and a VGA monitor. The VGA monitor worked fine but the TV claimed it had no signal on the DVI port. Interesting to know that I'm not unique in the DVI port failing while the card continues to function.

I'll post back if I can get the card to work again.

vinnieg

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#512865 27-Aug-2011 13:39

Sounds like you've either bent a pin in the DVI plug, or somehow busted the dvi port itself

I've had it happen once, check out both ports, you might find that two pins are touching, causing artifacting and no display. Not too hard to fix, just a small flat head to push the pins back into the right place, then a DVI extension cable, so you don't have to unplug/replug it in all the time, which would lead to stress on the pins that are bent

if your mate is good at soldering, you might be able to find a DVI header on Ebay for pretty cheap or Jaycar and get him to solder that on for you to permanently fix the issue. If it's under warranty though, don't even bother, just send it back

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.