6800le 'Black Screen' - The Complete Guide: Identification, modification and reason

[SikaRippa]

The mod is done, two hours later,everything is fine,and thegames are running smoothly. I tried Battlefield 2142 (which didn't like this card before), NFS Carbon, and also run 3D mark 03 in loop for like an hour. No issues at all. Furthermore, I activated 4 PP and 1 VP, so the card obtained 9800 points in 3d mark03 (originally is 12 PP and 5 VP, and it gets 9000 points).

So, thank you all for sharing this info, now I have a resurrected card. Hopefully it will work for some time.

I used 3300uF, 6.6V, 105°C cap.

kind regards

Hi,

Nice you managed to repair card Let's hope it will survive (without extra mods) as-long-as-needed....

[ediflorianus]

sorry about the PM but i'm realy no EXPERT on Electronics (but i am happy to learn)... sombody made a quick fix.

http://forum.computergames.ro/attach...6&d=1165246393

[SikaRippa]

sorry about the PM but i'm realy no EXPERT on Electronics (but i am happy to learn)... sombody made a quick fix.

http://forum.computergames.ro/attach...6&d=1165246393

Hi !

There is some problem in the link (at least I could not open it)

[ediflorianus]

plz PM me your e-mail so I can send you the 6megapixel photos and visit your XtremeSystems Forum account more offten (PLZ)

[SikaRippa]

plz PM me your e-mail so I can send you the 6megapixel photos and visit your XtremeSystems Forum account more offten (PLZ)

I have not visited in this forum very often recently... please note that this (=giving hints in forums) is just a hobby

[ediflorianus]

I sent u an e-amil ... with pictures
I talked to an electrician and he told me that i only need to change those (with red) but he big problem is the uper 2 (i don't have them ... and I need the codes to tell in the shop so help me with the "codes"/info !
and hear is a clear picture of the board !
I think al Capacitors ar OK

[Big Pope]

Nice thread

I can provide samples of good capacitors if any members want to try it. Recently, nVidia 680i is also used with this brand. Here is the details. Thanks.

Datasheet and caps database is here-->http://www.capsmod.net/caps

[tr23]

Hi peoples!
Well, my card Leadtek 6800LE 128MB still works fine, but i've decided to switch to the Club3D PC7600GT AGP256MB because i can get best performance with this new card than with my old card.
Thx again to all who help me with modyfing my card!

[EDP]

I'm on a black screen affected XFX GeForce 6800 LE and I found this after months of searching for a cure.

I just opened an old power supply I have and took a capacitor from it:

• 3300 µF
• 10 V
• 105 C

Don't know what ESR it has nor what amount of Ampères are allowed to go through it, but...

I just soldered the thing on the TP9 and TP10 (the XFX 6800 LE layout is almost Identical to the Gainward 6800 LE layout) and booted my pc. I was glad to see the thing turned on, at least one thing worked... But now: Oblivion...

I started, loaded a game that always crashed within 1 second and...

IT DIDN'T CRASH!

YEEEEEEEEAAAAHHH

It worked and still works!
It's incredible that the 6800LE's don't come with a capacitor on the TP9 and TP10!

Thanks guys for helping me out with this! Thanks a lot!
PM me if you wan't photo's of the XFX 6800 LE layout or the soldering (and pm me how to post images, never did it on a forum).

THANKS!

[just_Frank]

Hi !

SikaRippa, your work is outstanding !
I just bought a Gainward 6800LE affected by BS during some games, expecially HL2 and Lock On, a flight simulator that's a real BS-maker with this card, since it intensively uses loads of textures.

Increasing resolution and using antialiasing is even worse, since it stresses a lot more the video ram...

I tried the enhanced cap mod first with a Samsumg cap, 16V 3300uF 85°C. It was still crashing immediately or after a few seconds running HL2- Lost Coast or rthdribl, but no problems with other games like Pro Evolution Soccer 6.

Then i desoldered some good RubyCon MBZ caps from a dead motherboard, 6,3V 3300uF 105°C: the card began to fly !!! I could overclock mems to 860mhz until I saw the artifacts ! I could play HL2 for hours at > 800mhz, but sadly performances started to decreas after a few days, at a point that I had to remove the cap e put in another ( i have 6-7 of those rubycons still ) and the card re-started working great !



Now it's the third cap I mount on the card ( witout soldering ), taking the maximum care to ensure that the contact is good enough... hope that this will work for a much longer time

[just_Frank]

3.5 Memory voltage modification


It has been reported that adjusting a memory voltage has some effect of BS [1]. There is mentioned that lowering voltage a little bit 2.72 V -> 2.68 would remove BS. And after adding a capacitor modification the memory voltage can be increased some amount without getting BS. This can be usefull for testing purposes e.g. when overclocking the memory clock frequency.
A memory voltage modification has been proposed [4].It is quite hard to perform, since there is quite high risk to destroy the card when soldering leads to surface mounted components
I found a different way to alter memory voltage either upwards or downwards as explained in figure below.



Figure 24. Memory voltage modification

This method provides a very easy way to modify memory voltage and you can test it even without soldering the leads ! Please comment if this modification has been proposed earlier so I can give credits (I have not seen before).

Since I'm still experiencing BS sometimes, I'd try to do the mem voltage modification undervolting to about 2,6 - 2,65 V, leaving the Enhanced Mod as is.

I'm now playing at stock clock, but some games still give me BS, only 1 time playing F.E.A.R., about 3-4 times during sessions of Pro Cycling Manager 2006. I hope that undervolting can further reduce the issue...


But how much ohms the resistance between TP14 and GND should be, to lower the voltage around 2.65 V ?

[just_Frank]

Anyone ?

[SikaRippa]

Hi !

I have not visited here for ages ... sorry about late answer.

--

Some thoughts about your problem.. The performance of the old capacitor is more poor than brand new and there can be large variability between components. If you can not get new (low-ESR) capacitors is suggest to test your capacitors as follows:

- Charge carefully (=no shorts !!) capacitors with multimeter i.e. 'measure' diode-voltage over terminals. This charges capacitor with a small voltage
- Measure voltage right after and again after a few mins
- Select the one having largest remaining voltage = lowest leakage = propably the best
- Discharge capacitors with a resistor (at least some kilo-ohms)

Having lower voltage for memory could help for a while, but I think the better alternative is either to add GOOD capacitor or replace old capacitors.

--

Questions:

- Did you solder the added cap ?
- How high you can now OC without BS?

[just_Frank]

Hi Sika !

I did not solder the cap, but it's stable and makes rather good contact whith the points on pcb.

I'd try to lower voltage essentially because it's a nearly risk-free modification, to see how much this improve stability.

At the moment, I can OC very much with some games ( I reached 868 mhz before seeing artifacts, and no BS ), while other games may occasionally give BS even at stock clock

There's no fixed limit to not trespass.


Replacing caps is not an option for me, both 'cause I'm not adequately equipped to desolder components from a such delicate PCB, and I've no idea where to find good caps to replace ( maybe on old, broken video cards... )

[Dark666Reaver]

Hi
I have a question... i didn't read all topic because its very big... maybe there already a answer to my question...
All this mods are for 6800LE cards but on AGP... I have PCI-E card Leadtek Winfast 6800LE 256mb 325/600 @ 450/850 i do this on stock cooling so i buy Zalman VF900Cu will this mods work on PCI-E card? i'm interested in mod where you add a capitor on TP10 and TP9 holes on card...

ps. sory for my english if you can't understand something just tell i will try to explain everything.

[Dark666Reaver]

Anyone?!?!?!?!

[Kilyin]

Interesting. I have a BFG6800GS AGP card that "black screens". I know your guide states the BFG is not affected, but it sure seems to be. I'm at work now, but when I get home I'll take a look at the caps.

The card seems to black screen randomly. It will even do it when idling. The screen goes black, the monitor appears to be in standby, and I have to power cycle the PC to wake it back up. Does that fit the bill?

[SikaRippa]

Hi Sika !

I did not solder the cap, but it's stable and makes rather good contact whith the points on pcb.

I'd try to lower voltage essentially because it's a nearly risk-free modification, to see how much this improve stability.

At the moment, I can OC very much with some games ( I reached 868 mhz before seeing artifacts, and no BS ), while other games may occasionally give BS even at stock clock

There's no fixed limit to not trespass.


Replacing caps is not an option for me, both 'cause I'm not adequately equipped to desolder components from a such delicate PCB, and I've no idea where to find good caps to replace ( maybe on old, broken video cards... )

I wonder also that lowering Vmem a little bit is quite safe operation (when properly done i.e. no shorts etc).

Some games are much more sensitive to BS than others, so it is common to have very high OC'capability with one program and BS at stock frequency with 'a-known-BS-program'.

If voltage lowering or testing with different caps (see my previous post how to test/rank caps + I PREFER soldering) the best solution would be replacing caps. I agree it is little bit tricky operation

[SikaRippa]

Hi
I have a question... i didn't read all topic because its very big... maybe there already a answer to my question...
All this mods are for 6800LE cards but on AGP... I have PCI-E card Leadtek Winfast 6800LE 256mb 325/600 @ 450/850 i do this on stock cooling so i buy Zalman VF900Cu will this mods work on PCI-E card? i'm interested in mod where you add a capitor on TP10 and TP9 holes on card...

ps. sory for my english if you can't understand something just tell i will try to explain everything.

Hi,

There have been no BS-problems in 6800le PCI-E -cards (AFAIK). Do you have any problems i.e. shutdown/hang/.. with your card ?

[SikaRippa]

Interesting. I have a BFG6800GS AGP card that "black screens". I know your guide states the BFG is not affected, but it sure seems to be. I'm at work now, but when I get home I'll take a look at the caps.

The card seems to black screen randomly. It will even do it when idling. The screen goes black, the monitor appears to be in standby, and I have to power cycle the PC to wake it back up. Does that fit the bill?

Hi,

Yep your problem 'sounds' like BS...

Could you post a foto of your card or link to www-page having foto of that model or describe whether the PCB layout of the card is similar to 'BS-models' explained in the document ?

[just_Frank]

If voltage lowering or testing with different caps (see my previous post how to test/rank caps + I PREFER soldering) the best solution would be replacing caps. I agree it is little bit tricky operation

Lowering mem voltage should be a 2-minutes easy task ( if only I knew how much ohms to put in in order to obtain -0,05 / -0,1 volts less ), I'm curious to see how much this improves stability...

[Kilyin]

Hi,

Yep your problem 'sounds' like BS...

Could you post a foto of your card or link to www-page having foto of that model or describe whether the PCB layout of the card is similar to 'BS-models' explained in the document ?

Sure. Here you go.

[SikaRippa]

Lowering mem voltage should be a 2-minutes easy task ( if only I knew how much ohms to put in in order to obtain -0,05 / -0,1 volts less ), I'm curious to see how much this improves stability...

Ok.. if you really want to test I calculated resistor values (using the equation shown in the guide) and get following values:

~ 9000 ohm -> 2.5 V
~ 16000 ohm -> 2.6 V
~ 60000 ohm -> 2.7 V

.. but I suggest to put potentiometer/fixed resistor (high value) in series and adjust & measure voltage in the same time !! Good luck and be careful

[SikaRippa]

Sure. Here you go.

OK, thx for foto I am 99.99 % sure there has to be some other problem with your card than 'standard black screen'. The reason is clear: the PCB layout/electrical design of the card is completely different than used in 'BS-cards' and therefore the problems MUST have different reason.

[Dark666Reaver]

Hi,

There have been no BS-problems in 6800le PCI-E -cards (AFAIK). Do you have any problems i.e. shutdown/hang/.. with your card ?

When I do more than 450/850 3DMark's are stoping, BS then 5-10seconds and restart or BSOD... i can't belive this is the end for that card so I want to try something