Well, I just RMA'd my second X700. It is an HIS unit that I got from Newegg. This one actualy gave me a picture when I first installed and turned it on. Went into the bios and it seemed okay. Turned it off and put the tower back into place. Never worked again....
Now, I have always built my own PC's and have never, not once, messed up a component during assembly or whatever. This VGA is going into a brand new Elitegroup P4M800-M motherboard which is AGP 8X and 3.0 compliant. At the time of installation nothing was overclocked or anything. It tells me I need a 300 watt power supply which I have and my 12/5 VDC going to the card is rock solid (yes I did plug the little floppy power connector in). When I put my old 9600se back in, it worked fine so there isn't anything wrong with the AGP slot. This X700 does the same as the first one did: No video, no boot up, no nothing. The fan and lites come on but nothing else.
I don't get it. How could I get two bad units in a row? Am I missing something here? I am getting refund from Newegg but I don't know what to do after that. I am almost afraid to try anything else. This is two different cards in two different motherboards that have failed or just DOA. Newegg has some pretty good deals on an X700 Pro and an X800 GTO. The X700 Pro is an ATI card so I would hope I could trust that one to work and I might actualy be able to afford the few extra dollars it costs over the HIS unit. The X800 GTO would be the better of the two I think. It is one of the few descent AGP cards left. But it is more expensive and...it is a Sapphire brand. I don't know how good they are...
A couple of questions: On these HIS units that have the IceQ cooling unit, there are some neat blue LED's around the fan. I have heard complaints from a number of people that these LED's flicker during operation. Well, the first time I powered this thing up and it actualy worked, the LED's did just that. They flickered at a constant rapid rate just like I heard they did. Then, the next time I powered it up and it didn't work, no flicker at all. I wonder if that is some kind of clue as to what is failing?
I have checked my power supply voltages during operation with this unit and with my old AGP and they are rock solid. If there was a voltage problem...say the AGP voltage was low or something, it wouldn't damage the card would it? The thing would just not work and I would get some kind of alarm, wouldn't I? Is there any way to check what the AGP voltage is on this motherboard?
Okay, sorry for being long winded but I am very frustrated. So far I have spent $46 more for this card with shipping and restocking than I first paid for it, and I still don't have a working unit.
03-11-2006, 05:40 AM
Second bad H.I.S. X700 :(
Linear Mode
