[octiceps]

Last week, I re-pasted the GPU on the Radeon x1600 PRO AGP which resides in my ancient desktop PC. Everything worked fine for about a week and I was pleased that the operating temperatures on my graphics card were much lower after the re-paste.

However, a few days ago, my monitor suddenly wouldn't display anything after booting up the computer, and after eliminating a number of other possible causes I have come to the conclusion that the DVI port on my graphics card is most likely broken. So now, my monitor is being hooked up via analog RGB. I've taken out the card and physically inspected it and obviously there is really nothing to note. So now my question is: Are broken DVI ports on graphics card a common occurrence?

It seems strange to me that everything worked fine for a week before the component suddenly died without warning, although admittedly this graphics card is about about 6 years old now. Can this be possibly fixed without having to replace the whole board? You see, I'm sort of in a dilemma because my motherboard only has an AGP slot and AGP cards are, well, impossible to find nowadays and not worth the price premium for outdated technology. And no, I am not considering replacing the whole PC at this point because it is not my main PC.

 

[Rolly103090]

Im sure you already did this, but did you try using a different DVI cable?
The first DVI cable i ever bought crapped out on me after 2 weeks

 

[*ka24e*]

You might consider baking it in the oven, but that's up to you. I've personally had very good luck with fixing motherboards (and a monitor) by baking them, but its no guarantee by any means.
IMO, I would just stick with the VGA port until you can get a replacement card. There isn't a huge noticeable difference between VGA and DVI anyways.

 

[ParadigmBags]

Probably dead DVI port, lots of google-fu about it. However, i've scratched my head a few times too many, overlooking that some monitors require the input to be selected its on-board menu. if display was unplugged from power, it may have potentially reverted to VGA?

 

[octiceps]

Thanks for the info guys. I did in fact try a new DVI cable and that ruled out the DVI cable being broken because my monitor still showed black at startup. I guess I'm just gonna have to use the VGA port for the foreseeable future.

 

[Ken1649]

To rule out it's not your monitor DVI issue, try this;

1. Hook up the VGA and DVI from monitor to graphics card while the system is on (I know this is bad, but only way to test the monitor DVI issue).
2. Shut the system down.
3. Remove the VGA cable from the graphics card leaving only DVI conneted.
4. Turn off monitor and remove the power cord for around 10 seconds then plug the power cord and turn on monitor.
5. Power on the system.

If you get display from the DVI connected, it's your monitor issue and unrelated to the graphics card DVI port.

 

[Killam0n]

1 bake it

if bake fails:

Replace motherboard with PCI express compatiblemobo - try to re-use ram and CPU

if cant re-use ram and CPU:
buy as a combo (you can get c2duo setups cheap)

 

[octiceps]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken1649

To rule out it's not your monitor DVI issue, try this;

1. Hook up the VGA and DVI from monitor to graphics card while the system is on (I know this is bad, but only way to test the monitor DVI issue).
2. Shut the system down.
3. Remove the VGA cable from the graphics card leaving only DVI conneted.
4. Turn off monitor and remove the power cord for around 10 seconds then plug the power cord and turn on monitor.
5. Power on the system.

If you get display from the DVI connected, it's your monitor issue and unrelated to the graphics card DVI port.

Well, I don't understand what exactly this is supposed to accomplish. Seems like a pretty redundant test to me. Anyway, I tried it and my monitor is still not showing anything on DVI. Guess this still means my DVI port is dead.

 

[octiceps]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killam0n

1 bake it
if bake fails:
Replace motherboard with PCI express compatiblemobo - try to re-use ram and CPU
if cant re-use ram and CPU:
buy as a combo (you can get c2duo setups cheap)

1. I'm not baking anything.

2. You should realize that this PC was bought 8 years ago. The highest level of components the mobo supports are Pentium 4's and DDR-400 RAM. My mobo is probably already on its way out since I recently noticed that the capacitators had been leaking for some time. The death of the DVI port is probably the first in a string of similar events as this machine nears the end of its lifespan. When this thing really dies I'll get something with modern components in it.