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Guess my graphics card is shot

OrangeSVTguy

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
69
Northeastern Ohio
I just picked up another G5 for a damn good price and it had a flashed 9800 pro PC card in there from what it looks like. Got a bunch of lines everywhere so I just got done flashing just about every Mac rom I could find and those lines are not going away. Nope. Oh well at least I got a complete G5 with 2 large hdds and 1.5 gb ram and dual 1.8ghz and 8! memory slots for probably less then what most people pay for just the Mac 9800 Pro's :). Would using a better thermal paste do better? The lines look like they are from over heating?

I've also tried downclocking the card but that doesn't do anything either :( Guess it was just a bad card to begin with as I've flashed plenty of 9800s on a G4. Pretty cool to finally do it on a G5 with 10.5, didn't even need to boot to safe mood like when I had to on the G4s.

I do have 2 other AGP cards from G4s MDDs but I'm not sure if they work or not since I don't have a DVI cable, anyone know if a ATI 9000 64mb card or Geforce4 64mb cards work in a G5? Thanks.
 

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OrangeSVTguy said:
**Snip**

I do have 2 other AGP cards from G4s MDDs but I'm not sure if they work or not since I don't have a DVI cable, anyone know if a ATI 9000 64mb card or Geforce4 64mb cards work in a G5? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Well figured I'd quote myself then to edit my original post so others will be able to see this if searching.

The MDD G4 stock cards won't work in the G5 because the little connector for the ADC ports doesn't line up on the G5 AGP ADC power slot. :( Now I know... :)
 
I was pushing on the card while it was on and I did get most of the lines removed. There are no more distortions on the menu bar and no more lines around the mouse. There are still a few lines on the dock and active windows at the corners.

I'm gonna take the card back out and clean all the contacts on it as I'm thinking it's a bad connection somewhere and the card is not shot after all. I've already cleaned all the dust on it as it was caked around the stock crappy fan. WOOT!
 
Could be dirty connections, but usually lines mean bad GPU. In terms of compatibility most 9800 Pros are good flashing candidates but a few are not.

I wanted to stick a 9800 Pro in my G4 tower but went with a 6800GT instead (check my sig) - much better card, though finding a compatible one these days is harder than with a 9800 PRO.

Good luck.
 
Sure did!

No more lines. I do need to reapply some new thermal paste. The stock sucked so I just cleaned it off. I won't run it much now since there is no paste on there now between the chip and heatsink. I don't want to cause any damage. :)

Sure do wish I had the graphics card in my sig still. Still wish I had that G5! Need to update my sig lol. Too bad I have to sell this G5 too :(.
 

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OrangeSVTguy said:
Sure did!

No more lines. I do need to reapply some new thermal paste. The stock sucked so I just cleaned it off. I won't run it much now since there is no paste on there now between the chip and heatsink. I don't want to cause any damage. :)

Sure do wish I had the graphics card in my sig still. Still wish I had that G5! Need to update my sig lol. Too bad I have to sell this G5 too :(.
Click to expand...

:cool: It worked! :D

Those contacts must have been absolutely filthy. ;)

Why do you have to sell?
Cash needed to help purchase the next Mac Pro? ;) :p
 
Need the money so I can fly the wife and the kids to Texas. :p

It wasn't the contacts. I guess the heatsink was loose and had a bad contact with the processor.


Added:
Oh yeah I swear like 2 minutes after I posted that, the lines came back lol. Well 4 hours later with new thermal paste and screws holding the sink down, they haven't come back :cool:
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Need the money so I can fly the wife and the kids to Texas. :p
Click to expand...
You're willing to sell the computer to let the family fly?

Make 'em walk. :eek: //End of
devil.gif
streak. :p
OrangeSVTguy said:
It wasn't the contacts. I guess the heatsink was loose and had a bad contact with the processor.
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I was thinking this, until you mentioned how dirty it was.

Overheating seems to be a very common suspect in my experience, anyway. ;)

OrangeSVTguy said:
Added:
Oh yeah I swear like 2 minutes after I posted that, the lines came back lol. Well 4 hours later with new thermal paste and screws holding the sink down, they haven't come back :cool:
Click to expand...
Get it fixed, and then have to sell it. :(

Postpartum Depression for computer geeks. :D :p
 
I've let it run all night encoding video and this morning some of the lines are starting to come back :(. This card is going into the trash! AKA ebay :p.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
I've let it run all night encoding video and this morning some of the lines are starting to come back :(. This card is going into the trash! AKA ebay :p.
Click to expand...

It could be thermal cycling of the PCB changing the contact area between the GPU and the heatsink as the board heats up under load. This can also cause solder joints on surface mount components to break. :(

You might be able to sell it as a "for parts" listing on fleaBay. ;)
 
nanofrog said:
It could be thermal cycling of the PCB changing the contact area between the GPU and the heatsink as the board heats up under load. This can also cause solder joints on surface mount components to break. :(

You might be able to sell it as a "for parts" listing on fleaBay. ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm just tired of messing with it. Runs fine the the next second it doesn't. There's not that many and it's still very usuable but a lot less then my first screen shot. I'm just gonna look locally for another card. I'm not too familiar with other cards so I'll research what would flash good.

e-GeForce 6200 <~~~ good mac flashing candidate?
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Yeah I'm just tired of messing with it. Runs fine the the next second it doesn't. There's not that many and it's still very usuable but a lot less then my first screen shot. I'm just gonna look locally for another card. I'm not too familiar with other cards so I'll research what would flash good.

e-GeForce 6200 <~~~ good mac flashing candidate?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure on the GeForce 6200. You'd really need to know the size of the Flash chip first, assuming you have or can get a copy of the firmware.

You might be able to solder on a larger flash chip, provided you can work with surface mount parts. ;) Not nearly as easy as through hole though. :(

I was forced to buy new soldering equipment for SMT work. :eek: :D
Super tiny parts, lead free solder,... //Grrr... :p
 
The X800/850 cards are a crapshoot.

If it does work it will be VGA only, the DVI will not function but the VGA part will be passed through.

Some just don't work at all.

Good luck with it, I seem to recall that we made some "Reduced ROM" ones...important as these cards not only used 64K EEPROMs but also had a "Flash Block" set of resistors that limited the 128K chips to being 64K unless you used the right flasher.

ATI always did a better job keeping the Mac Riff-Raff from getting use of their cards.
 
The Rominator said:
The X800/850 cards are a crapshoot.

If it does work it will be VGA only, the DVI will not function but the VGA part will be passed through.

Some just don't work at all.

Good luck with it, I seem to recall that we made some "Reduced ROM" ones...important as these cards not only used 64K EEPROMs but also had a "Flash Block" set of resistors that limited the 128K chips to being 64K unless you used the right flasher.

ATI always did a better job keeping the Mac Riff-Raff from getting use of their cards.
Click to expand...
Interesting. :)

I didn't know enough about the specifics on that model. :eek:

Thus far, I don't recall seeing resistors used to limit the available capacity. Odd, as it actually complicates the design a little, and requires more parts. :eek: I wonder how they "sold" that one to the accounting dept when they could have just spec'd out a cheaper (smaller) flash chip? ;)

The Flash ROM capacity is always a crap shoot. Even if someone previously bought a specific model and verified theirs has enough to capacity to flash, as manufacturers are always using different parts. Cost is a major part, but also to keep the assembly line going if their normal supply has run dry (damn lead times :rolleyes:).
 
Just got back. Ok the guy even had a 128mb 9800 Pro too with the arctic cooling silencer on it. Looks brand new. So I picked up both the 9800 and x850.


Gonna flash them in PC unless I figure out how to create a apple script to dump the original ROM and flash the Mac ROM onto it automatically on startup.

Will report back in an hour or so with the results of both.
 
The Rominator said:
The X800/850 cards are a crapshoot.

If it does work it will be VGA only, the DVI will not function but the VGA part will be passed through.

Some just don't work at all.

Good luck with it, I seem to recall that we made some "Reduced ROM" ones...important as these cards not only used 64K EEPROMs but also had a "Flash Block" set of resistors that limited the 128K chips to being 64K unless you used the right flasher.

ATI always did a better job keeping the Mac Riff-Raff from getting use of their cards.
Click to expand...

Oh really? The DVI and S-Video ports won't work period?
 
DVI won't for sure.

S-VIdo is doubtful as I don't think the OEM/Retail version had it, hence no reason for it to be supported in ROM.

Maybe with a DVI to Video Out adapter from Apple, but......
 
Ok thanks, I will just use the 9800 then. Which is working beautifully btw, using it now. I only have a VGA cable anyways so I couldn't test if the DVI worked anyways. Sucks that that VGA Silencer uses up 2 of the PCI-X slots. Only one slot is available now, I thought they only took up one slot.... :confused:


BTW, the part # on the x850 is 109-A47501-00
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Sucks that that VGA Silencer uses up 2 of the PCI-X slots. Only one slot is available now, I thought they only took up one slot.... :confused:
Click to expand...

Do you mean that the card and cooler are taking one slot each, or that the cooler itself is taking 2 slots?

If the cooler is taking 2 slots, its clip may be modified to get 1 slot back.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/VGA_silencer_install/VGA_silencer_install2.html#storytop

I did a similar modification in my G4 to regain a RAM slot.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t158/sneezeguard/RAMClearance.png
 
Dave H said:
Do you mean that the card and cooler are taking one slot each, or that the cooler itself is taking 2 slots?

If the cooler is taking 2 slots, its clip may be modified to get 1 slot back.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/VGA_silencer_install/VGA_silencer_install2.html#storytop

I did a similar modification in my G4 to regain a RAM slot.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t158/sneezeguard/RAMClearance.png
Click to expand...

This is what I mean. The cooler takes up 2 PCI slots.

Another question, isn't the cooler suppose to blow the air out instead of suck the air in? I'd rather have it the other way around and blow the air out the back but I switched the cable but then the fan woulnd't work. Any other way to reverse the fan?
 

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OrangeSVTguy said:
This card is going into the trash! AKA ebay :p.
Click to expand...

Can you believe that the auction is at $76 already for a partially functioning 9800 :confused: One man's trash is another man's treasure I guess.....

I didn't even pay that much for both the 9800 with the VGA silencer and other the x850(which I sold on ebay for $50 to recoup the costs). Strange....


Anyways I couldn't get the VGA silencer fan to switch direction by switching the cable around on the 2 pins. Maybe it was actually blowing out the back but I couldn't feel it but I could have sworn that I felt the air blow up when I placed my hand above the fan.
 
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