Sapphire 9700pro - help please!

Timmybighands · Jul 22, 2003

Hi, I have the above card. I purchased it on Ebay. Got a heluva deal.

I've had the card about 5 months and now suddenly it's got Green lines all over the screen. It's not modded, never overclocked. Nothing abnormal.

The guy on Ebay is dropped off the face of the earth. What do I do now?

I tried to find sapphire's site: Sapphiretech.com, but it's not working. Do you think they will rma it? I dont even have an invoice.

I hope somebody has some good advice for me! HELP!

Thanks!

AS3 · Jul 22, 2003

I know very little about this, but just a few things that any person would do:
-re-install the drivers
-take card out of slot, clean dust put back in
-re-format hard drive, then install drivers
-check the card for any parts that might not look right
-try changing quality settings

Timmybighands · Jul 23, 2003

ttt

anything else? All of the above looks good. This is still a new card! What the heck?

Timmybighands · Jul 24, 2003

ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO CONTACT SAPPHIRE?!

ashenfang · Jul 24, 2003

no offence, but google goes a long way

USA Office:
Tel: 909-594-0597
Fax: 909-594-9771
e-mail: [email protected]

stacyma1 · Jul 26, 2003

display problem

I would like to take the time to say that I have this same card and had what I think is the same problem. With me I had the blocky graphics even during boot-up. This made me question whether it could be the graphics card or not. I can't be certain if this has cured it, only time will tell, but all the goofy graphics went away after I unplugged my monitor and after a few minutes, plugged it back in . I hope this helps!!

mdcomp · Jul 26, 2003

Is the card overclocked? If so reduce the oc. Maybe the cooling is lacking on the card. Make sure the fan on the card is working. I have heard of those fans just dying. Def. sounds like it could be a cooling issue. Try that and post how it goes. Good Luck!!

Timmybighands · Jul 26, 2003

No way it's anything but the card. I replaced it with my old 8500 to see if maybe some other hardware was causing the issue. No green blocks at all. I ran it for a long time just to make sure.

Then I put the Sapphire card back in, and BAM! Right away I get the same green blocks all over.

The card has NEVER been overclocked, and the fan is still working.

By the way, nobody answers at the Sapphire phone number, and their website does not exist. I think I just ate $300.00

I'm gonna be sick.

Rav · Jul 26, 2003

Was the card used when you bought it? It sounds like there is some bad memory on it. Use and OC utility and LOWER the memory speed, see if it clears up. Also double check the heatsink is on right and the fan is working full speed.

-Rav

PreservedSwine · Jul 26, 2003

Timmybighands said:
No way it's anything but the card. I replaced it with my old 8500 to see if maybe some other hardware was causing the issue. No green blocks at all. I ran it for a long time just to make sure.

Then I put the Sapphire card back in, and BAM! Right away I get the same green blocks all over.

The card has NEVER been overclocked, and the fan is still working.

By the way, nobody answers at the Sapphire phone number, and their website does not exist. I think I just ate $300.00

I'm gonna be sick.

R-E-L-A-X

Saphire is a HUGE OEM company, and e-mails take time, as much as week, to get returned. They produce a highe quality card (They make nearly all of ATI's "Built bt ATI" cards for them.

I've heard their RMA process is horribly slow, as they do not sell cards to individuals, but to other retailors, who ususally provide warranty support.

But since you bought yours from an individual, you can't go to the retailer for support.

This means you have to put up w/ Saphire's lethrgic RMA process.

Their website is working fine for me.
Here is their support page
Good luck, be persistant, and be patient.

james.miller · Jul 26, 2003

what ram does your cards have on them? erontech?

There is a known problem with sapphire 97xx's w/ erontech ram. the symptoms are usually green or pink lines horizontally or vertically across the screen.

The problem is the bios - the wrong timings were stored for the ram.

The updated bios is available from sapphire. Either ask them, or find it on sapphires message board.

edit:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20&whichpage=1

Timmybighands · Jul 26, 2003

Holy Cow!

PreservedSwine, thanks. I was about to FREAK. Anyway. I took the HS off. Lapped the core with 600 1000 1500, applied AS3 and reinstalled. No problems since then. Hmm... Anyway, do you think I should still RMA the card? I'm not sure I want this to happen again.

Also, I'm now using the DVI output and adapter. Wonder if that's changed something?

john240sx · Jul 26, 2003

well, if you lapped the core (instead of the heatsink) i don't think you stand a chance for an RMA. infact, your lucky the card even works.

also, a general rule of thumb when trouble shooting is to only change one thing at a time so you know what worked. i would switch back to the standard 15 pin vga connector and try it as it might be the vga connector that's bad.

Timmybighands · Jul 27, 2003

Well, the card is still running fine...

I did lap the core. It did not take off any of the lettering on the core itself, but it did take it down a little bit. Also lapped the heatsink.

I've been reading about the Entron? memory on this card, seems that's the problem and they have a bios that's supposed to fix it (slows the memory timings). I cant find it to download, however.

donny_paycheck · Jul 27, 2003

Funny, I have exactly the same problem with mine right now. Overclocking doesn't affect it at all either.

Right on POST, text has colored artifacts around it, sometimes vertical lines parallel with the letters. When I load up a 3D game all I get is MAJOR artifacts to the point where it's unplayable.

And then I'll leave the PC off overnight and the next day it'll be absolutely fine. This is the third time it's happened and in fact, the artifacts are going away right now as I'm typing this post.

Sapphire 9700 Pro owner here, with another of the same problem. I'm trying out james' link ATM.

Pic from that thread of what it looks like:

[edit]

BIOS page. This guy was cool enough to compile the new fixed BIOSes for the rest of us to fix our cards with. I've got to crack my case open and see what part number my card is so I know I've got the right BIOS.

donny_paycheck · Jul 27, 2003

Well, I flashed my BIOS, and so far, so good. I used the Version 14 EtronTech 2.8ns BIOS for P/N 1024-2C00-1D-SA or 1024-4C00-1D-xx. Funny thing, though, is that it set my RAM default clock down to 299mhz, from 310, where it used to be. I clocked it back up to 310 and so far it's still alright. If it ends up remaining problematic I'll try the BIOS for the other P/N.

I haven't gamed on it yet but I'm about to. I'll post back with my findings, but right now it seems as though this has fixed the problem. It's DEFINITELY a RAM problem though, since corruption happens in CMOS setup even. Also, because if you scroll the screen, the movement leaves ghosting artifacts, which indicates something happening in the memory.

After I flashed it I had to reinstall the hardware, but I already had the latest Catalysts on here so that was automatic. Thanks a gajillion to james.miller for providing that link.

james.miller · Jul 27, 2003

no problem, glad i could help

Timmybighands · Jul 28, 2003

Alrighty... since my last post, the artifacts/green/pink lines have returned. On screen as I'm typing.

Anyway, I have SAMSUNG chips on my card. The card has a BLACK pcb. I made some heatsinks and applied them to try to help loose some heat. No help.

How do I flash the bios of the card if I'm running XP since it does not have a DOS only mode? Also, the XP boot disk is ACTUALLY 6! Not sure what I'm doing now, kinda out of my realm. Anybody help? I mean like a step by step thing. I can be really dense sometimes.

Thank you!

Shane

D2DM · Jul 28, 2003

Step 1: one of these:
http://www.google.nl/search?q=boot+disk&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=nl&btnG=Google+zoeken&lr=

Step 2 can be this: (sticky)
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=178819

Timmybighands · Jul 28, 2003

Okay, I did it. At the A: prompt, I went:

flashrom -p 0 9700up~1 (where 9700up~1 is my new bios).

Flash went bad, and I have nothing. Just a black screen. So I restart, I cant SEE anything, so I dont know what's going on, but I can hear the floppy spin, my cd roms spin, and the keyboard lights flash. So I assume that it is at the A: prompt again. So assuming that I am at the A: prompt I went:

flashrom -p 0 9700orig~1 (where 9700orig~1 is my old bios)

I hit enter and the floppy spins again (again, I cant see anything, so I assume that it is flashing the bios). The floppy stops spinning. I restart, and STILL NOTHING. So, now that I have voided my warranty, have no monitor output, WHAT DO I DO? Thanks in advance for your help.

Shane

Sapphire 9700pro - help please!

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