problem with radeon 9700 pro- garbled display on reboot

[halcyondrew]

Hi,

About 1/3 of the time my radeon 9700 pro garbles the display when i reboot my computer. it's a "powered by ati" brand, probably some cheap no-name brand cause i got it for $135 new about a week ago. the card works perfectly other than the random garbled display, and I have tried other cards in my machine with no problem. Also tried the problem card in another machine and was able to replicate the problem so I know it's not some kind of compatibility issue. Is this sounding like a problem with the card and I should just RMA it, or something I can fix with a setting, bios update, or something of that nature?

Thanks in advance,
Andrew

*edit* also just FYI my computer is an Athlon XP 2400+/abit KW7 motherboard/antec 430w psu...could a subpar power supply cause this if it cant deliver the card the power it needs on start-up?

[Alienware_Dude]

Did you plug the 4-pin Molex connector into the card? If so, I'd RMA it - it's defective.

[mrmister1]

Did you install the drivers for it? Also as AD said, make sure you plugged in the power connector to the video card.

If neither of those work you should return it.

[halcyondrew]

yeah, everything is plugged in properly.

I guess i'll have to RMA it. probably some bad solder point on the PCB or something, huh?



i knew it was incredibly inexpensive, i guess now i know why.

[mrmister1]

If it's an ATi card, it should be reliable. ATi has very strict quality control over its manufacturers.

[halcyondrew]

its not ATI

it's some off-brand that isnt even listed anywhere. the most i can find on it is "POWERED BY ATI"

it uses the EXACT PCB layout that a built-by-ati card would use, with the exception of no ati sticker on the PCB itself. my card only has one on the fan and it isn't exactly like an OEM ati sticker but its close.

i contacted the company it was purchased from and they will refund my money if i return the card. should i even be concerned about this, though? I mean, it is obviously some kind of imperfection in the manufacturing/QA process, but 90% of the time it works perfectly. now i'm kinda curious what brand it actually is lol.

please advise,
andrew

[halcyondrew]

ok i found the brand. it says "manufactured and supported but NOT warranted by FIC"

sounds like some quality crap to me if not even a shoddy PC component maker like FIC will warrant it.

[Alienware_Dude]

I had an FIC 9700 Pro before I upgraded to my current Hercules 9800 Pro, and it gave me no problems whatsoever. You must've just gotten a bum part. It happens.

[mrmister1]

I was saying that the chipset was an ATi chipset. ATi watches over the manufacturers that use its chipset very closely.

[halcyondrew]

I had an FIC 9700 Pro before I upgraded to my current Hercules 9800 Pro,

that's a lot of money to be spending on upgrading to an almost-identical card.

[Alienware_Dude]

Yes, that's true, but this was a while ago, and I was able to make almost all of the cash back by selling the FIC.