Difficult video adapter question

[TDeacon]

The MOV in surge protectors only absorb so many hits before they simply stop working.  It is the nature of the beast.  A decent quality surge protector will have some type of indicator letting you know it is no longer able to deal with surges.

If your surge protector is using a MOV (most consumer grade units will as the other options are very expensive and large) and it does not have a fail safe indicator to let you know it is no longer able to handle surges, then throw it away if it is over six months old.

Furthermore, if you get a very close lightning strike (millions of volts), I doubt any surge protector will help. The transient current from the strike will either enter your house directly via external lines, or indirectly via inductive coupling to those external lines, arc through the surge protector circuitry, and fry your PC.  Supposedly a good UPS can protect against lightning, but all I have for that is hearsay.  

MH

[Chalenge]

Okay, so you understand how to rework solder. Then you should also be able to reseat the heatsink.

You should know that the MOSFET area of the MB has probably been affected if you took an electrical hit and it doesnt matter what card you put in there it will either be affected already or will become affected later. Furthermore if the PSU has been affected already then any new device you add will have the same problem migrate in over time.

[Bizman]

I know how to solder circuit board components; however I doubt loose solder connections is the problem (as it worked when I went to bed, and didn't in the morning).

OK, the resoldering was just a low cost idea. Probably the one of the chips has quit working.

I would be happy to buy another equivalent video card (or a reasonably trustworthy used one) but they are not to be had in AGP, for Windows XP, and working with my 250 W Dell power supply (or even without this last requirement, if I replaced the PS).  Remember the current card is a Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB, which was top of the line in its day.  The only thing I can find on line is this: "JATON 3DFORCE FX5200TV GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Low Profile Ready Video Card" at NewEgg.  It is alleged to have significantly worse performance than the 9800 XT.  

Look at this Ebay link, plenty of AGP cards at decent prices.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

OK, the resoldering was just a low cost idea. Probably the one of the chips has quit working.
 Look at this Ebay link, plenty of AGP cards at decent prices.

Ebay would be a good option for a preowned pci-e capable computer too I personally would consider every dollar spent to AGP at 2012 wasted money.

[zack1234]

Is it worth fixing a 10 year old pc?

[Bizman]

As the OP said:

However, it seems a shame to lose my old failthful Dell, which at least could have functioned as a backup

Last week I got a fully functional Windows 95 rig from an old lady, who would have kept it if she wasn't moving to another country. She also had a Win7 laptop, easier to pack.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

As the OP said: Last week I got a fully functional Windows 95 rig from an old lady, who would have kept it if she wasn't moving to another country. She also had a Win7 laptop, easier to pack.

Sure but the question was would you fix it? 

[TDeacon]

Okay, so you understand how to rework solder. Then you should also be able to reseat the heatsink.

You should know that the MOSFET area of the MB has probably been affected if you took an electrical hit and it doesnt matter what card you put in there it will either be affected already or will become affected later. Furthermore if the PSU has been affected already then any new device you add will have the same problem migrate in over time.

Your suggestion about the heat sink was appreciated.  However, you may have missed my follow-up question.  If the heat sink is the issue, wouldn't you expect the video card to display correctly when Windows has just loaded (when the temperature is still climbing through 30 degrees C as indicated by the "ATI Tool" utility), and then to exhibit the display anomalies only later, when it stabilizes around 52 degrees C?  

Instead of the above, the card displays the symptoms shown in the posted image, from the first appearance of the Windows log-in screen.  

BTW, I was only guessing that my system was hit by a power surge during the night; it may not have been.  It’s just that it “worked” the night before, and didn’t in the morning.    

MH

[TDeacon]

Sure but the question was would you fix it? 

I have pretty much decided to build a new system for gaming, having obtained buy-in from my wife, and will post my preliminary design for comments on this board. 

In parallel, however, I would like to maintain the Dimension 8300 as a secondary computer, if at all possible.  All of the software on it ran fine with the 9800XT (in both the XP and Linux Mint partitions), and even AH was usable with the "eye candy" turned off. 

MH

[Bizman]

Sure but the question was would you fix it? 

No, the question was

Is it worth fixing a 10 year old pc?

And the answer is: It depends. If it were for sentimental values, the spare parts being low cost and the job done without cost by himself, yes. Other than that, no.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I have pretty much decided to build a new system for gaming, having obtained buy-in from my wife, and will post my preliminary design for comments on this board. 

In parallel, however, I would like to maintain the Dimension 8300 as a secondary computer, if at all possible.  All of the software on it ran fine with the 9800XT (in both the XP and Linux Mint partitions), and even AH was usable with the "eye candy" turned off. 

MH

Then the easy solution is to get any old AGP card from Ebay. If you're not running games you don't need a 9800XT in the computer.

[Drano]

Pretty sure the last of the Mohican AGP cards was a HD4670. HIS made a 1GB one. This guy here: 

http://www.hisdigital.com/us/product2-448.shtml

I used to have one on my last rig (a socket 478 P4) before I upgraded. With everything max'd out and overclocked it still just wouldn't cut it for AH.

That said, I wouldn't even bother replacing it. It served its time. Just rock on with some new stuff.

[Chalenge]

Your suggestion about the heat sink was appreciated.  However, you may have missed my follow-up question.  If the heat sink is the issue, wouldn't you expect the video card to display correctly when Windows has just loaded (when the temperature is still climbing through 30 degrees C as indicated by the "ATI Tool" utility), and then to exhibit the display anomalies only later, when it stabilizes around 52 degrees C?  

Instead of the above, the card displays the symptoms shown in the posted image, from the first appearance of the Windows log-in screen.  

The temperature reading you get when the system boots is likely a probe near the GPU and not the VRAM. If the thermal material is no longer doing its job for the memory then the temperature could spike immediately. If you have turned the system on several times since you noticed the problem it is probably too late but the cost of a little time and thermal compoud could also bring your system back online.

If you did experience an electrical shock to the system then you would be better off using another system to recover any important data before you go in any other direction. I cannot stress enough how important it is to note that once something like that affects a PSU that you have only a limited time before more trouble appears. This could very well end up being the end of everything in the case.

[DREDIOCK]

I may have an old AGP card laying around yet. Doubt very much though if its more then 256 ram though.

I'll dig though my junk boxes later if you want.
And no I wont want anything for it but a good home.

[BaldEagl]

Your screen shot looks like bad video RAM to me.  I'd be nearly 95% sure on that assesment.  

I think have an old AGP card laying around too but it's only 16 or 32 mb.  On the plus side it was Dell original equipment so they might even have legacy drivers for it.  If you're just surfing the net and stuff it would work.  It's yours if you want it and I can find it.