My ATI 9800 Pro not working after PC tower fell.

[randyannie]

Hey everyone, I got a simple question I guess. Last week I was switching the 2 PCs I have in my den around to make a digital video workstation. Then from across the room, I hear a thump. I look over and see that my 3 year old daughter has knocked over 1 of the towers and is now standing on the mobo side of the case. Well I thought too late now, but it's probably no big deal. Until I hooked it all back up and I couldn't get a video signal from my monitor when I turned on this PC.

I tried reseating the ATI 9800 Pro, that didn't work. So I broke out an old ATI Radeon 9200 and installed it. Boom, everythings fine. Now I'm just wondering what part of the video card could have gotten damaged by the fall. It fell on carpet with padding. What's the most likely thing on the 9800 that broke, and what do you think I should do with the card now?....It's sitting on my desk all $225 dollars of it.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Randy

[lordsmurf]

Look for cracks on card, pins missing in wiring.

[smearbrick1]

When did you purchase it? Depending on when you purchased it and where, you could take it back.

I wouldn't, but you could. It has been done.

[jak_omo]

i had a similar problem, after a normal shutdown and powering up my system my radon 9800pro was gone..

no electronic smell, no viewable broken parts, it seems to everything is ok.
but no signal on monitor...

[Treebeard]

bent or broken transistor? If under warranty get it replaced.

[free is better]

perhaps the monitor plug wrenched the vga jack on video card and broke a solder connection(s).

[Bigdaddybrat]

I would send it in to ATi. Depending on when you bought it, they will fix or replace it under their RMA service. I just costs you to ship it to them they send it back for free.

However!... a word for the wise.... I sent my AIW9000 Pro in and they replaced it with a refurbished AIW 9600pro (good deal) but the first card they sent was defective... and I had to go through a whole lot of B.S. to get them to send me another one... when they did... that one worked for about an hour and then it was fried... which means that they have now sent me a third one and It has been over a month and half of B.S. which has left a bitter taste in my mouth... especially when they kept telling me to update my drivers...even though the card would not even work in VGA or safe mode!!!!!

Hey if you have nothing to lose and you don't feel like forking out the money for a new card and you have the time send it in.

[randyannie]

Is it possible that the molex lead off of the Power Supply Unit that I am using, is defective. Maybe if I use another lead would I get good power???

Thanks everyone for your help, Randy
PS: the tower was completely unplugged when it toppled over, so no cords could have been yanked.

[ROF]

Just out of curiousity did you try the 9800 in the other tower? Was the card still fully seated or slight raised out of the socket after the fall? is it possible it got bent when it crashed? There are a million possible things that could have happened. The 9800 is one of the lighter modern cards with it's odd shaped heatsink. I own one although I don't have it installed at present. The card may have bent itself or something may have caused a transistor shock.

[randyannie]

No I didn't try it in the other tower, but I did remove it from it's current tower and reseated it making certain that it was properly seated and installed. I may run it by a tech shop and see if they will install it into one of there machines and see if it works for them.

Thanks for your input, Randy