Golden Sample GPU worries

[RussianBlue]

Hi guys, first time post here. Been watching these forums for a while now and this site is the best in the biz bar none.

Maybe I can get a possible diagnosis for one of my many ailments?

Here she is: Got a Gainward Golden Sample Ti4400 that's been working great for a few months now. Saturday I got all brave and decided to take the heatsink off and remove the thermal pad and replace it with some Artic Silver. Everything went great till I booted up again. Now I'm getting some major artifacts on the screen when I boot up. The motherboard is a Tyan S1854 with an original Micron PC bios. When the initial splash screen comes up, the display is clear, but there are some major artifacts on the screen that manifest in the form of random block-like shapes. Actually not completely random, but regularly spaced across the screen and all the same size, about 2 inches tall and 1 inch wide, at 3 inch intervals horizontally.

The question is, and what I fear the most - did I possibly damage the GPU with static or otherwise? I cleaned off all artic silver and replaced the thermal pad, to no avail. Also reset the CMOS and re-adjusted AGP aperture etc etc.

Any ideas on what's going on here. Think it's possible that she's just not gettting enough power or something, maybe a grounding issue, something else? Any input is appreciated in advance.

Thanks.

[Hognert]

Sounds to me like one or more of the memory modules on the card died :/. Happend to me once.. looked just like that. One of the modules got extremely warm to.. like 60-70C in no time. Not much to do about it :/... RMA.

[TheDude]

Is it possible that you got some Artic Silver on the card somewhere?

[Wolf]

You got artic silver on your card somewhere. Get you some acetone (nail polish remover) and a toothbrush and scrub that card down in any place that you think you may have gotten artic silver on. Usually this happens when people put it on their memory. I made the same mistake once but I was able to fix it by cleaning it with acetone. I went out and bought some artic alumina instead. It's safe around the memory and other traces of the card.

[N8]

RussianBlue,

I don't have any better suggestions than what has been said here, but I wanted to say...

Welcome to Xtreme :)

[RussianBlue]

Thanks for the welcome!

I bet you guys are right. Probably DID get some Arctic Silver on the card. I bet that's it. I'll have to wait until tonight to try it again however. Thanks for the suggestion.

As far as the memory modules go, that wouldn't surprise me either even though I bet this time it's an Arctic Silver issue. Would you believe that I had to RMA my first TWO brand new Golden Sample 4400's because one or more of the BGA memory modules with heatsinks attached had come unsoldered from the PCB sometime between leaving the factory and arriving at my house?

My dealer said that Gainward had had a bad run at one of its Chinese factories or something and they'd had several returns. In any case, I now fear somewhat the initial force required to remove the memory sinks to add supplemental cooling to the BGA modules. When you look at how they are soldered, with the little BB's in their sockets, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence as to their sturdiness. Any tips on getting those sinks off without applying to much upward pressure to the BGAs would be appreciated. I tend to think a single-edge razor blade would do the trick.

I'll let you know how it goes and if I have to RMA. I suppose I am glad that I don't have to order a new 9700 - ah yes, somewhat bittersweet it is. Thanks again for tips and great to be at Xtreme.

RB

[TheDude]

RussianBlue,

Let us know if that fixed you.
Welcome to the forum!:D
Really cool nick btw;)

[PiLsY]

If I were you i wouldnt risk physically damaging the card and get it sent back. Youll lose what, a couple of days? Is it really worth taking a razor blade to the card when you can just send the damn thing back?

PiLsY.

[TheDude]

Yeah..I wouldn't get too carried away with a razor either..might leave damage that would not allow RMA. Have you tried popping the card in the freezer (in a baggie) for a few hours and then trying to remove the heatsinks? Like PiLsY says...don't risk damage when you can just RMA it for new one.:D

[GVCryan]

Honestly man, I would seriously just RMA it, you don't want to void your warranty, and usually these people can tell if you did too much messing around.

If you need to, pop her in the freezer overnight. Blow off work, and be careful. Use rubbing alcohol, since acetone has the ability to devour pcb. And take your time!!

BTW welcome to the xtreme. This beers for you:toast:

[RussianBlue]

Glad you like the nickname. Check out PlatinaLuna.com for the origin. Yeah, I'm a cat guy. My wife's a neat freak and I've been relegated to the garage for my computer lab - which isn't all bad by the way.

Did a rub-down of the card last night with some q-tips and my trusty old xylene-based carbeurator cleaner from NAPA ($1.99).

That's been my acetone of choice in unlocking XP's, cleaning Heatsinks etc. It works great, evaportes quickly, and as far as I can tell, doesn't hurt the processor substrates or the PCBs at all. Another trick you guys might be interested is using Goo Gone to get rid of thermal pads. You just let it sit there for a bit and they come off pretty easily. That's probably a pretty similar solvent although seems oil-based vs. alcohol-based.

Anyway, the cleanup didn't seem to do much unfortunately. However, I did use q-tips and may have missed some spots that a toothbrush would not. I'll try the t-brush this morning, and then I RMA.

Interestingly enough, when I re-seated the card and booted up, I ran my finger over the different parts of the card, front and back, figuring that if I touched some of the Silver that was causing the problem, maybe I'd smear it just a bit and be able to tell exactly where the problem area was by seeing some slight changes in the display. I was actually able to cause some variation in the display (cleared up some of the artificats), but only by applying slight pressure to different spots on the heatsink, directly from above. This leads me to believe that it's something with the GPU. And that leads me to the following...for which I may be evicted from the entire Xtreme site when I tell you....

...i failed to mention the other day that when I'd added that Arctic Silver the first time, I'd taken off the Gainward heatsink and sanded the red paint off the bottom of it to expose the bare aluminum - you know, for better heat conductivity. Well, I hope this didn't wreck the GPU when i re-installed. Now I feel better having come clean. Although, I can't imagine how a copper aftermarket cooler wouldn't have done the same thing so I wouldn't think that this is the prob.

I'm just hoping they won't reject the RMA because of the heatsink having no red paint on the bottom. I did do a nice job on it though with some 600 grit. And you can't tell that the paint is gone when the HSF is in place. Luckily I haven't messed with the memory modules at all.

In the mean time I am using a Savage S3 PCI vid card LOL! How bout that? She's clear as a bell with only some slight tearing when I'm on the Power Management page of the BIOS.

Thanks for the tips. Got a new KD7 last night and an AGIOA Y 0213 greenie so I'm looking forward to today. At least my mobo is working well. Remind me to tell you my nightmare A7V333 story which started in March and ended last weekend. I've sworn off ASUS for life on principle.

RB

[Marci]

I've been saying the same about Asus for years...

[TheDude]

RussianBlue,

Very few places take the time to closely examine RMAs. As long as there is nothing blatantly wrong, I think you will be OK. Just act dumb like the average consumer :D

My mom has bred cats for years. I did myself for a while, when she gave me a breeding pair...but that was many years ago. I'm more of a big dog kinda guy and currently have a 160 pound English Mastiff.:D