Thread: Help With My Video Card!

Ok guys, I really need your help. I woke up the other morning and my computer had a "new computer smell" going on. Well I popped on my monitor and it came on, but the screen was completely distorted with pink and green lines going across the screen. I assumed my computer just froze up so I rebooted, however the same lines and scrambled picture was showing up on the BIOS screen which makes me think its nothing to do with my hard drive. So I popped out my GeForce 6800 GT video card and noticed that there are... "tiny little beer keg" looking things on the card (sorry thats the best way I can describe them). And three of them have what looks like kind of burst at the top. I'm not sure if that is the problem but I thought I would ask you guys to see what you think. I included a picture of my video card so you have an idea of what I'm talking about. I circled the ones in red that have the little "burst" at the top of them. Also as a side note, the fan was working however the entire card was full of dust - not sure if that did anything to it or not. I have tried different monitor cables, and a different slot on my motherboard but still nothing. The only thing I haven't tried is another monitor because I don't have one right now. Anyway, help me out anyway possible, I beg of you! Thanks! :laugh:

Judging from the blurry image, it looks like the capacitors blew. Capacitors are usually enclosed in two shields. Maybe it's just the outer layer that burst so perhaps try a different monitor like you've mentioned.

I'm still surprised you have any picture at all if they did burst.

Anyways, if you look at the capacitors, you'll notice the μF and a V (microfarads and Volts, respectively). If you want, you could go to your nearest specialty electronic store and purchase replacements. Flip over the board and unsolder the capacitors. Insert the new ones and clip the pins. Re-solder. Then all is well.

Or...

You could go buy a new video card. I would purchase the capacitors since it's cheaper. Maybe 40 dollars max for the three of them.

Yeah dude, the dust probably made the capacitors blow. That is bad, and its not supposed to look like that! You blew your card definitely! Hey, find out the specs, of those capacitors and send them to me if you want, I can probably solder new ones on their! But that's just what the problem u see, their could be more problems, and thats just the effect! When capacitors blow, it usually is like a safety trigger for other main components on the card. It keeps steady voltage throughout the card, also could of been overloaded by having a surge? I cant guarantee that just that went bad, just those you can see went bad. If you want to try and save money, we could give it a go. Hmm, yeah, always clean out the dust on your computer. Oh well, lesson learned! Time to get a GTX295!

Originally Posted by el2em

Judging from the blurry image, it looks like the capacitors blew. Capacitors are usually enclosed in two shields. Maybe it's just the outer layer that burst so perhaps try a different monitor like you've mentioned.

I'm still surprised you have any picture at all if they did burst.

Anyways, if you look at the capacitors, you'll notice the μF and a V (microfarads and Volts, respectively). If you want, you could go to your nearest specialty electronic store and purchase replacements. Flip over the board and unsolder the capacitors. Insert the new ones and clip the pins. Re-solder. Then all is well.

Or...

You could go buy a new video card. I would purchase the capacitors since it's cheaper. Maybe 40 dollars max for the three of them.

Thanks alot bud for taking a look at that. And yeah sorry for the blurry picture, that's the first gen iPhone for ya, heh. But that sucks, I'm not one for soldering so it looks like I need to just purchase an entirely new video card. I don't do much gaming so I can pick up a cheap one for the time being. I just needed to know if those little "capacitors" being blown at the top was my problem for sure, apparently it is. Do you know why they might have done that? The fan was operating fine, do you think it was due to the heavy amount of dust that was on it? Anyway, thanks again for the input. I'm going crazy here having to use my girlfriend's piece of crap Dell!

There could be numerous reasons. I usually see blown capacitors when there's a short somewhere on the circuit board which then leads to over-voltage. Over-heating can be definitely be factor, but it's hard to say unless I see the extensive damage on the board. Although, I've seen PCs and fans completely covered in dust and, most of the time, they're fine. There might have been a brown-out in your area for all we know.

Originally Posted by BANE

Thanks alot bud for taking a look at that. And yeah sorry for the blurry picture, that's the first gen iPhone for ya, heh. But that sucks, I'm not one for soldering so it looks like I need to just purchase an entirely new video card. I don't do much gaming so I can pick up a cheap one for the time being. I just needed to know if those little "capacitors" being blown at the top was my problem for sure, apparently it is. Do you know why they might have done that? The fan was operating fine, do you think it was due to the heavy amount of dust that was on it? Anyway, thanks again for the input. I'm going crazy here having to use my girlfriend's piece of crap Dell!

Lol. you have to keep your computer dust free, and make sure you have a surge protector! You can also have a short in other components, Other then that, their capacitors dont often go bad. It's a regulator that controls voltage throughout the card. Actually it splits up the dc and ac waves. I have repaired many, and even though those blow, it could have internal problems. Thats just what you see. Replacing stuff thats broken doesn't usually fix the problems. If you replace the capacitors that just fixes the problem temporarily , and another problem could be power supply to the gfx card could be bad and blow your caps again! Its just the problem you see! Grab a multimeter and test the voltage after the power supply!

nothing can be done about your video card now !
buy a new one as 9800 is as good as shit !