I'm scared!

[Prototype3a]

I have a good old G400 Max DH and lately while playing CS or doing anything else that involves OpenGL after some time the screen will go all garbled. Most reciently it did it and i was able to exit to windows and it was still garbled.

Any ideas? I *HOPE* it's not dying.

[Kruzin]

Could be heat releated.
Is the fan still running on the card?
Try running with the case opened, to see if the extra ventilation helps.

And welcome to MURC

[Michel]

I have had exactly the same problem with my g400max. Once in a while the screen got corrupted while playing cstrike or tribes2.
After exiting the game, the corruption stayed in windows. reboot solved the corruption.

The garbling could be heat related, but i've never investigated the problem since it didn't occured often.

Try adding a fan or play with an open case for a while to see if this helps.


*Edit:
Yeah, i've been promoted on the forum. no more mini for me

[Neomagic_Twist]

Well, have a look at your card. Hold it into the light and see if the HS is pressed against the chip firmly.

Mine was not even touching it. It was as crooked as anything. It's either the core or the puny HS that's not right. So lap it and get a decent hs on there, an old pentium hs or something should be more than ample. If the problem persists, you might wanna look further...

[Wulfman]

... and before you mess with a new heatsink: remember that your card may still be under warranty.

mfg
wulfman

[Prototype3a]

I'm not really new here but i sorta don't think it's still under warranty considering how old it is (like 2 years) My computer used to crash while runng CS but it hasn't done that at all lately. But it has done the garbled video thing a few times reciently. I think the fan is working... Kinda hard to see between cards. I looked at it reciently when i disassembled my pc to install a northbridge heatsink. It looked a little dusty but otherwise ok. with my head against my desk it appears to be spinning.

Any suggestions for an easy replace? I dunno of any like there are for nVidia GF boards.

[Sasq]

G400's had a 3 year warranty, so do check that option first
Dan

[Daywalker]

I had to replace the HS compund on my G450 within a week of getting it. I took one look at this thick blob of white goo that had about 50% contact with the core and thought - no bloomin way am I running it like that.

Just popped it off with a knife (and saw all the bubbles in the goo - not exactly quality workmanship ), cleaned both surfaces with Isoprop Alcohol and used a nice thin layer of AS epoxy to reapply the original Heatsink - also added a 40mm sunon fan. The fan blocks the adjacent PCI slot, but I don't use it at the mo.

Personally, I don't think that just changing the HS compund will cause a problem warranty wise. Even if you put a different HS on and the board fails, just stick the original back on b4 you send it back under warranty.

[Prototype3a]

Does anyone know if P has any connectors on it where you might be able to attach a RR P edition to it? I'd still like to get the RR for my G400 but if it's possible to do something similar for the P then i suppose i'd be willing to upgrade the cooling on my G400 and wait to get a P.

[Ribbit]

The graphics card guys aren't doing video input devices any more, so there'll be no RR P edition. You may as well just get a P and a WinTV (or whatever).

[Kruzin]

The Matrox RTx100 and x10 will work fine (or any RT), but they aint cheap.

The x10 is the cheapest, check the MURC news page for the press release from last week.

[Prototype3a]

hrmm that stinks.. the RR is cool, I'm just poor. I suppose i'll contact matrox on monday or tuesday and see what they say. In the meantime are there any products that perform well and will fit my G400? I'm not really in the mood to |-|4><0r a 1U heatsink for it. Although i do have a 50mm pin heatsink laying around that i suppose i could machine down a little. not sure how i'd attach it tho.