I've just bought a Dell Dimension 8300 that had a faulty graphics card.

Bought a Sapphire Radeon X1650 Pro 512mb and fitted it yesterday.

The PC worked perfectly for around 10 hours constantly then it went really slow and suddenly the graphics fault came back,the picture starts off being pixelated(SP) and then goes green/pink with randon letters/numbers flickering across the screen

I downloaded a few updates including a bios update from Dell,could that cause this problem ?

 

A bios issue could certainly be the issue, also it could be the PCI/AGP (whatever) port or the power supply. If there is not enough power the card could fail !

 

I hope it's not killed the card then

I've just tried it again and when windows starts up it freezes then the screen goes blank but the pc is still running

 

You've got all the normal stuff like over heating, faulty Ram.. etc..

Its never easy to find an issue like this. Try running in safe mode to put a side any driver issues

 

As pimmo says, this is a needle in a haystack type job - you'll need to begin a process of elimination.

Check the BIOS is up to date

Do a reformat and fresh install of windows (if you haven't already)

If it has a couple of RAM modules, try removing one and testing, then try the other on its own and testing.

As pimmo said, could be a power supply / voltage ssue with the AGP socket - Try removing the video card and running with a cheap PCI video card.

Cooling issue - make sure the cooling system eg. heatsinks, fans are working properly - you may be able to check system temps in the BIOS.

You never know who could've had the computer before you - possibly some idiot with a magnetic tip screw driver or something equally daft.

 

Great fun isn't it

I was thinking of reinstalling windows but the problem is that I can't see the picture to be able to do it,it's breaking up far too much

 

If its breaking up on install that means its not a driver issue.

Can you test Graphics card in another pc ??

Its horrible trying to find issues like this.. you need a test bench really !!

 

What, so you can't even see the POST screen - the black and white screen you see when first turned on before it loads windows ?

If thats the case its probably not Hard Disk, Windows or RAM related

Possibly Motherboard, CPU or AGP Video Card / Agp slot related

Again, see if you can get your hands on a dirt cheap PCI graphics card. Someone on here might have one. If that worked, then you know it could be AGP slot related.

 

Yep,can't even see the POST screen ! I can partly but then it breaks up bit by bit with purple/green colours and random letters/numbers flickering around !

I thought this dell dimension 8300 can only use AGP graphics cards ?

 

Not sure on this particular card but does it require its own direct power cable from the PSU? Most PCI-E require this but Im sure so do some of the more recent AGP cards.

My new build has an 8800GT and I disconnected the power cable to reroute some other cables in a tidier fashion. When I turned on for first time made a horrific sound and took me a few mins to realise I had not plugged power back into the gfx card, panic over

Simon

 

My first Sapphire ATI card (9500 pro I think) was like this and was dodgy card. But mine did it from first install. Got it replaced.

Simon

 

i would've thought if its got a PCI socket, it'll handle a PCI graphics card

definitely agree with P1Fantatic too - if the graphics card has a power socket (molex) you must use it.

 

Thanks for the replies guys

I think I have sussed the problem now. The AGP slot looks damaged on the motherboard,some of the pins are bent.

I fitted the old ATI RADEON 9800 PRO and gave it a bit of a wiggle and it works fine,slight bit of movement and the picture breaks up again.

Can you buy AGP sockets to replace the one on my 'board or do I need to get a new motherboard ?

 

new motherboard

 

You could try bending the pins back into position with flatnosed tweesers. Sounds like its just a bad contact.

 

Be careful if you are going to fiddle around bending pins on the mobo.

1) Make sure the PSU is off, either unplugged or turned of if it has a switch
2) Make sure you have tried to turn the computer on after you have unplugged the PSU (or waited more than a min). PSUs store a bit of power, and you need to ensure this has all been discharged before you start poking about
3) If you screw things up and you then plug in an expensive card you could toast it. Best check things with something cheap. I only have one spare AGP card for testing purposes so I cannot send you that. I think mine is a Geforce 2 GTS or something...worth about 50p

 

its not worth the hassle if you can jiggle it and it goes off - as luminous says, you can damage a video card easily with that type of thing.

save yourself the time and frustration and get a £50 motherboard from somewhere like this
Components » Motherboards - Overclockers UK

 

Thanks for all the replies

It's turning into a major headache now,I only bought the PC as a spare while I build my new one. I was told it just needed a new graphics card

Will any of the cheap motherboards fit into the Dell Dimension 8300 as i've heard there's some dodgy wiring etc that is Dell specific ??

 

I've just opened up a Dell Dimension E520 we have at work...

It uses a proprietary heatsink / cooling solution which relies on the cpu being in an exact location on the board - so you *may* have to dismantle that and use your own heatsink / fan solution.

Also the motherboard is mounted on the opposite wall to what is normal, so the usb ports, etc... are on the RIGHT hand side as you look at it. Nearl all motherboards mount the usb , lan, ps2 on the LEFT as you look at it.

Typical motherboard layout

 

Thanks for that. I'm going to take my motherboard out soon and have a look at it. Also,just spoke to someone who has a spare motherboard for the 8300,just trying to see how much they want for it.

 

ebay should help you out for items like that. Try other things first though

WARNING: There was a period of time when Dell used non standard power supplies, but with standard power supply connectors. The wires within the standard connector were not in the standard order. This would mean that if you plugged a non Dell mobo into a Dell PSU, or a Dell PSU into a non Dell mobo it would go bang, and I do mean bang.

Dell were heavily critised for this practice (and quite rightly so) as there was no indication on any of the parts that they were using this non standard configuration. There were adapters on the market that would convert the Dell connector back to how it should be. However, all the places that I know of were forced to stop selling the part by Dell. QuietPC.co.uk was one of them. I believe Dell have stopped doing this, and have adopted the standard wiring format now. I do think that it was around the time the 8300 was out that this was happening.

If you are going to fiddle with new mobo/PSU that were not originally for that machine then you need to check this out.

 

I just did a little research for you. There was a time when Dell used non standard PSUs for their machines. These non standard PSUs used the standard ATX power connector, but with the wires in different places. This caused very nasty consequences when things were replaced with non standard items!

It would appear that the 8300 is NOT one of the machines affected. Proceed at your own risk however

Adapter for Dell Power Supply

 

The X1650 needs a power supply direct from the PSU. The PSU you currently have may not have a spare/suitable connector.You may well need a molex adaptor (v cheap) but you may well need a new PSU. Your monitor may also be an issue. Dig out your old leads and try the other analogue connections instead of the current DVI connections you are probably using. Better still try connecting the computer to an old crt monitor if have access to one. See how that goes and report back.

 

The PSU is fine mate,it does have the correct power connector for the X1650.

I tried it on an old CRT monitor before looking into it further,along with updated drivers etc.

I've just removed the motherboard now and I can see down the AGP connector that 1 of the pins has been pushed down the slot so that it will sit under the graphics card and not make a connection on the card

New motherboard it is then

It's a shame no-one knows where to get new AGP connectors from,I could just remove the damaged one and replace it !

 

Jus bend the fecking pins