Why has my graphics card suddenly stopped working?

Question

I have a Radeon 9500 graphics card that had been installed in my eMachines computer since December. Recently, the card just stopped working. There was no signal being sent to my monitor. I opened up my computer and took it out to get a look at it. There is a ton of dust built up on/in the fan. Will simply clearing the dust out with an air can make it work again? Will I have to buy a new fan? Or is the card just toast? Thanks

Answer 1

Hi there:

FIRST *** Thank you SOOooo much for providing some really great information that makes helping you " to the point" instead of a guessing game...

It was a good thing that you looked at the card and now can clean the fan and heatsink - please do this with the power supply and all other fans in the case while you are at it - it will prevent future failures.

Now - to the video... With the video, there are really a number of things you should check, so, here we go...

Get another video card - any video like a cheapo used 2 meg PCI card in the old bin at a computer repair bin for $3 bucks, and
plug it in to make certain that the MONITOR is not your problem - how else would you know?? The cheapo card should at least come on to the DOS BIOS setup screen if nothing else, and allow you to regain control of the computer...
Also, you run into tanother AGP/ PCI problem in that sometimes the BIOS setting is BOOT TO AGP FIRST,
so that you STILL might not see anything, so that... you need
either another CHEAPO AGP card, again a 2 or 4 MEG old card, maybe $5 from a " used " bin... or try removing the AGP card when you boot from the PCI - the BIOS on the motherboard, " MAY" find no AGP , and then re-direct to PCI, but not always..

Finally, you need to asses whether another MONITOR would work. Take the tower to a friend's or borrow a nearby MONITOR
as a final check if none of the above will give you a BIOS screen.
ALSO, in the case of a DUAL output Video card, some makes and revisions only boot on ONE monitor plug - which one are you plugged into? ( if there are 2 )

Then, once you are booted to a startup BIOS screen, with a cheapo, working PCI or AGP card, and a known working MONITOR, then you can start to assess what the AGP 9500
problem might be. There are many BIOS settings, that you can try. You can take the AGP 9500 and try it in another computer - say take it to a repair/ parts/ builder local store, and ask them to throw it in a machine to see if it boots to BIOS. If it does, ok...
If it does not boot to default DOS, VGA, low res. you are probably in trouble with the card...
THEN
You have to assess whether or not the FLASH programming on the video chipset has been corrupted - on most new Video cards, you can RE-Program the card itself with a FLASH program, just like the BIOS on the main motherboard - was this flash corrupted?
You would have to boot from a PCI ( check the BIOS, boot from ____ video first ), and then use a download from the web , in a running computer, to re-flash ( the upgrade ) the video card itself.
(check the website of the radeon to see if this is a feature available on your card - if the 9500 is a card made by another manufacturer, you have to go to THAT website first... )
Make certain BEFORE you put the card in any machine that the fan, although now " clean " is actually turning. I have run into a LOT of fans where one of the two coil sets is completely burnt out, and the fan will either not start at all ( it will run SLOW if you start it ) or, it may start at random, every 5 or 6 times, and run, but be so slow that it does not cool anything...
After switching Video cards, Monitors, and Computers to test the unit, and then trying FLASHING the Video chips, you will probably
know whether or not there is any hope left....

OR1234 above has a really good suggestion as well, in the
power supply upgrade on the unit, if you put in a high end card
or get your old one going - check the total WATTAGE of the
power supply on the computer's power supply while you have the case open. Higher end units today have a reliable brand name like ANTEC etc. runing at 600 to 800 WATTS total output.

The card still could be good !

good luck - it is a nice card

robin

Answer 2

try blowing out the dust, etc.and try again. if that doesn't work, and your motherboard has integrated graphics (which most emachines do) try plugging your monitor into that port. sometimes, especially on nonsurge protected machines, when a power blip or similar event happens, the motherboard can reset all BIOS and CMOS settings, thus would cause the signal to be sent, not to your card, but to the integrated port. you may need to change it back. if THAT doesn't work, try putting the card in another machine, and trying it there. should it not work then, then it is definatly the card and not a software,etc issue. likely, a pwer sureg, lightning strike,etc. fried the chip and wont produce a signal. if its still under warranty (probably not) youll need a new card. assuming youre on AGP (due to the age of the card) i would reccomend either a 6600gt or a 6800xt. theyre both very good cards that run excellently.
Hope this helps!

Answer 3

It might work again if your clean it up, but more likely all that dust has made it run so hot it burned up. All the high-performance video boards produce a lot of heat, which is why they all have their own fans. Screw the fan up = Burn the board up.

It might also be that your power supply has failed. E-machines, like most others, installs a power supply that is barely adequate for the original setup. If you add a power hungry board to it, you may pull the voltages down to where performance is marginal. Granted, if it worked for 8 months, this is not the most likely case. If it were mine and I had to replace the video board, I'd install a better, higher-capacity PS too.

Answer 4

Most likely you'll need a new card, but you can try blowing the dust out of the fan first. If the fan was not working efficiently, you could have fried the card.

Answer 5

Try cleaning the fan first. If it is not working, then get a new fan. Then, after you get the new fan and still not working, I am 80% sure that your Video card is toasted.

Answer 6

start with a cleaning then I would reboot the computer completely maybe a file got messed up. I had a modum that done that. They should last longer then a year. does it have a warrenty?

Answer 7

your computer probably got fried in a storm and it just affected you graphics card

Answer 8

sounds like the card is fried had one of them till about three months back allways used nvidia before i got that one gone back to nvidia with new one......

Answer 9

A good cleaning and reseating it might fix the problem..