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4870 no video

tbiggz

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I changed the cooler on my HD4870 to an HR 03 GT. I booted it up it worked as usual, except that the VRMs became very hot with the HR 03 GT heatsinks. So I removed the card, removed the VRM heatsinks, and ordered new heatsinks. I put the 4870 in a box for a few days while waiting for the heatsinks to arrive. I used a 7800gt in its place.

After installing the new heatsinks and setting the system back up with the 4870, I can't get the card to display any image to my monitor. I've tried both VGA and DVI connections to different monitors. They work with the 7800gt, but not the 4870. I've tried putting the card in a different computer, but it doesn't work. I tried replacing the heatsinks and reseating the cooler, but still nothing.
If I pull the PSU to CPU power connector, the 4870 will, as it did before I replaced the heatsink, display 3/4 red diagnostic lights on its back. With the connector in proper place, the 4870's red lights flash 3/4 briefly(less than a second) before fading out. This seems to me to show that the problem is beyond the card's diagnostic LEDs.
I've poured over every mm of the card with a magnifying glass, but I didn't see anything that looked inconsistent, burnt, broken, scratched, etc...
The GPU's heatsink still gets warm when turned on.

I've tried putting the 7800gt in another slot while keeping the 4870 in its slot and booting up the computer. When I check the device manager in Vista, the 4870 isn't detected.

Are these results consistent with physical damage of the card?
Could the video bios have somehow become corrupted?

Thanks for any help
 

Binge

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I think you need to give yourself more credit for your diagnosis. It's about as good as most members here will be able to give you, but bios failure seems odd when you have not touched the bios. Keep that in mind ;)
 
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Try unplugging your monitor, plug it back in and make sure the power is on. Start it up and try doing hard resets untill it works.. if it works.:ohwell:
 

schmide

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I would be to take the after market cooler off. Very Very carefully clean off all thermal grease checking for places that could cause a short. Reassemble and hope for the best.
 

vivek90

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Ya man i was having the same problem
i was using msi hd4870 overclocked one with HR 03 GT heatsink.
i noticed the problem returned it to the manufacturer as i got with every thing fitted good and the good thing is they replaced,I also modified the bios u know.......................

THE real problem is the weight of HR 03 GT.
 

Fastmix

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Hopefully that heat didn't damage the card.:eek:
 

vivek90

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heat is not the problem,the problem is PHASE near VRM's they left the contact with the
board with slight contact.I call the vendor they were not able to tell the problem,but i knew the problem.Means the board is too weak to handle the weight.
 

tbiggz

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thank you for the suggestions
I've looked all over the card with the heatsinks and thermal paste cleaned thoroughly off for shorts. I did this 3 times in total.
And the HR 03 GT was working fine with the 4870, except the VRM heat, until I replaced it with the 7800 and put it back in slot after a few days.
Different monitors and connectors didn't work, but I'll try the monitor suggestion.
 
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Put the 7800 back in and uninstall all the drivers for it. Then shut it down and install new card and drivers for it. May have a conflicting issue..
 

tbiggz

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I can't flash it or detect it from DOS or windows using ATIflash or ATIFlash through Winflash.
I can detect my 7800 using NVFlash.

It's Visiontek, so should I send it to Visiontek for repair/replace or ATI? I can't put the stock cooler back on, as I dremeled it to hell(trying to modify plate so that I could use the stock plate and fan to cool the VRMs).
If I send it bare, do they charge full price for replacement?
Just asking here in case someone was as stupid as me and has gone through this rare situation before. Thanks for any help
 

HolyCow02

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Sending it back bare means you voided your warranty. Which means Visiontek wants nothing to do with your card
 

Binge

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Sending it back bare means you voided your warranty. Which means Visiontek wants nothing to do with your card

meaning... refit the stock sink to your card :p
 
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