9800GT Problems.

[PirateTiger]

So for the life of me I cannot figure out what is wrong with this card.

As of now, I have to underclock the memory 100mhz for it to even function in games.

But I can overclock the memory and the core and have it pass stress tests and benchmarking software, yet if I'm gaming the card usually crashes instantly if I don't underclock the memory.

The card never really sees over 70 C in temps, so I know it's not a heat issue.

[TechFan@ic]

I had an 8800 GT that refused to run any DX8 or DX7 games "artifacts and black screens would pop up"

I didn't overclock it or do anything like that to it , after about 6 and half months of usage it died (it literally smoked), and then I upgraded to an HD 4870.

My brother had an 8800 GT card that died on him as well , and a friend had 3 die on him on his laptop.

Point is, I think they're just faulty.

Remember a 9800 GT is just a rebranded 8800 GT.

This seems like a case of a defective memory , the card is really old it could be just age has caught on to it.

Keep the memory underclocked and try to upgrade soon.

[PirateTiger]

Oh I know it's old and time for a new one but why would it pass stress testing and OC tests but crash when gaming?

[Kuvl0_Gtx]

Maybe it is just a driver issue . Did you update to the newest version ?

[002]

How long do you run the stress tests for? I had an old (4+ years) 8800 gt which could not run for longer than ~30 mins without under clocking both the core and memory. If the crashes are happening quicker and quicker chances are the card is slowly dying. This is what happened to mine until eventually the card just died outright. If the crashes seem consistent then maybe you'll be find but otherwise I'd probably recommend minimizing gpu load until you can find a replacement or have an alternative.

[Pinkdonut666]

Yah, I would tend to agree that the card is slowly dieing, graphics cards can be really nasty, and they tend not to just outright die... I would say, that a driver issue is unlikely, but might be a possibility. I'd say, if your tight on cash, just grab a used GTX 260, you can get them for like $60, and It'll probably serve quite well.

[crispy345]

Try out the GPU in another system, just to make sure it's not any of your other hardware. Like PinkDonut said, get a used GPU, a 280 is still a awesome card, and will drive most games decently.

[PirateTiger]

I've left the stress test running overnight before and no crashes, but some games crash instantly others only crash an hour or so into it. I know the card really isn't worth trying to fix but I was just curious if anyone could figure out the problem, I've had an 8400GS die out on me so I know what that is like but this doesn't seem to be the same.

Also as far as a newer card I'm limited by PSU plugs right now only have one 6 pin PCI-E

[PirateTiger]

Card is not stable at stock core clock either, trying 25mhz underclock.

[Fordox]

The 8000 and 9000 series from nvidia had soldering problems, so the oven trick works on these cards :)

and yes. it really does work.

remove every sticker and nuts and bolts and remove your cooler. warm your oven up to 200 degrees celcius, when it is on temperature, place your gpu in there on 2 orb shaped pieces of aluminium foil so it will be perfectly horizontale in your oven. 10 minutes later, remove it, place back your cooler and stuff and try your card again.

Yes it sounds crazy, yes it WILL work. (but only for 8000 and 9000 geforce series, and some 400 series cards.)

[Fordox]

The 8000 and 9000 series from nvidia had soldering problems, so the oven trick works on these cards :)

and yes. it really does work.

remove every sticker and nuts and bolts and remove your cooler. warm your oven up to 200 degrees celcius, when it is on temperature, place your gpu in there on 2 orb shaped pieces of aluminium foil so it will be perfectly horizontale in your oven. 10 minutes later, remove it, place back your cooler and stuff and try your card again.

Yes it sounds crazy, yes it WILL work. (but only for 8000 and 9000 geforce series, and some 400 series cards.)

The soldering on the 8000 and 9000 series will fracture over time. when you put it in the oven, the soldering gets soft (will not liquify, because that will be bad. thats why you should set your oven to 200 degrees) and thus make contact again.

however, this is a temporaly fix. you can do it over and over again, but look for a new card. this one is dying.

I have seen a post on a dutch forum, where someone placed his 8800 in the oven for 6 times and the fix still worked after 6 times :P

its crazy.

This fix will not work in newer lines from nvidia, because they used a diffrent solder technique, although some 400 card have been revived in the oven. but if you ask me, it is because the cooler was reseated. but maybe it have worked.

[Money]

Maybe you could consider an upgrade? The 9800GT is a little outdated at this point!

[Fordox]

The 8000 and 9000 series from nvidia had soldering problems, so the oven trick works on these cards :)

and yes. it really does work.

remove every sticker and nuts and bolts and remove your cooler. warm your oven up to 200 degrees celcius, when it is on temperature, place your gpu in there on 2 orb shaped pieces of aluminium foil so it will be perfectly horizontale in your oven. 10 minutes later, remove it, place back your cooler and stuff and try your card again.

Yes it sounds crazy, yes it WILL work. (but only for 8000 and 9000 geforce series, and some 400 series cards.)

MOST of the problems are related to this soldering fault. mostly artifacts, bad system recognision and bad clockspeeds (like in the TS).

it will not allways fix your card, but you have a fair chance on fixing your problem (chance of 3 out of 4)

[PirateTiger]

Tried the oven thing with my dead 8400 and it didn't help, Will check my power plug next time it crashes.

[002]

One of the vital things with the oven trick is that you leave the card to cool inside the oven. Taking it out before its cool could easily let the solder go all over the place so just turn of the oven and leave for 10 to 15 mins (make sure the card is level too) before taking it out. I've only ever tried this trick on a gpu from a dead laptop that was playing up (drivers would crash, resolution was forced down to 800*600) and amazingly it completely fixed all the problems. The problem that your describing sounds very strange however, I'm thinking that maybe it can pass stress tests as things like furmark only need to load the memory once while in game you explore new areas etc. which loads different textures and geometry etc. onto the memory causing it more stress. This is the only thing I can think of as I've never heard of anyone having issues quite like this.

[kght22]

The 8000 and 9000 series from nvidia had soldering problems, so the oven trick works on these cards :)

and yes. it really does work.

remove every sticker and nuts and bolts and remove your cooler. warm your oven up to 200 degrees celcius, when it is on temperature, place your gpu in there on 2 orb shaped pieces of aluminium foil so it will be perfectly horizontale in your oven. 10 minutes later, remove it, place back your cooler and stuff and try your card again.

Yes it sounds crazy, yes it WILL work. (but only for 8000 and 9000 geforce series, and some 400 series cards.)

it is called a cold solder. sometimes a solder point will break, and on close inspection you will see a small line on the solder pad (looks the same on through pins and surface mounts). the objective of the oven trick is to re-melt the solder like a re-flow oven. to solidify the solder points again. it can work if a cold solder is the problem, and 200 degrees should not hurt any of the hardware on the card, although you should of course remove as much as possible before you try it.

[PirateTiger]

It's nothing I've dealt with before, but I do need to just get a new one, and a whole new everything else.

[Fordox]

The 8000 and 9000 series from nvidia had soldering problems, so the oven trick works on these cards :)

and yes. it really does work.

remove every sticker and nuts and bolts and remove your cooler. warm your oven up to 200 degrees celcius, when it is on temperature, place your gpu in there on 2 orb shaped pieces of aluminium foil so it will be perfectly horizontale in your oven. 10 minutes later, remove it, place back your cooler and stuff and try your card again.

Yes it sounds crazy, yes it WILL work. (but only for 8000 and 9000 geforce series, and some 400 series cards.)

my point exactly :)

[TechFan@ic]

I'll definitely try the oven trick on my dead 8800 GT, it might fix it, it sure as hell can't kill it any more than it already is.

[Fordox]

I'll definitely try the oven trick on my dead 8800 GT, it might fix it, it sure as hell can't kill it any more than it already is.

and thats why you don't need to worry about the oven trick :)

[Fordox]

Tried the oven thing with my dead 8400 and it didn't help, Will check my power plug next time it crashes.

it can be the solution for this graphics card. and you can allways try because its dead and out dated anyway.

and yes, it can be another problem. but lets hope that it will be fixed with the oven.

[TechFan@ic]

I'll definitely try the oven trick on my dead 8800 GT, it might fix it, it sure as hell can't kill it any more than it already is.

Hehehe , yeah exactly, it's a risk free process, also in the end, you get to say I baked my GPU for fun ! fixing it was just a secondary incentive, which sounds like something Chuck Norris might say :D .

[Fordox]

I'll definitely try the oven trick on my dead 8800 GT, it might fix it, it sure as hell can't kill it any more than it already is.

true that :P

[PirateTiger]

It is fun to get asked what your baking and say Computer parts, just as a warning if you do bake it be VERY careful about the fumes have plenty of ventilation.

[Fordox]

well that's not that dangerous. at 200 degrees, allmost nothing will vaporize. it does smell bad (try smelling burnt dust :x), but wont be harmfull.