Thought I'd see if anyone else has had a similar problem before I get it replaced. I just splashed out on a new graphics card (Sapphire Radeon All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro) so that I can use it as a Tivo, as well as to play games.

The card arrived yesterday, so I fitted it, but forgot to attach the extra power connector. My PC booted, but wouldn't POST, and instead beeped continuously whilst displaying a message informing me to connect the extra power connector to the card. After attaching the extra power connector, my PC fails to start, and all I see is the case fans spin a couple of times before the PC dies completely. The only way to get things to work again is by disconnecting the power at the wall socket.

It seems as if the graphics card is short circuiting my PSU (431w Enermax) and causing the protection circuits to kick in. I've tried fitting it to another PC with the same results. This is the first time I've ever had anything completely dead on arrival, and doesn't say much for quality control.

I'm open to suggestions, as its quite possible that I may have missed something when installing the card. Has anyone else had similar problems in the past?

Me, too

I am having this exact same problem. I purchased a Radeon AIW 9700 Pro with all new parts for a sweet machine, and it does the same thing with my Antec SmartPower 400W power supply. If I unplug the power to the card, the fans go on, but as you said, if the card is plugged in, it fails, and must be unplugged before it will try to start up again.

PLEASE help! I NEED this machine, so if anyone has anything to offer, please let me know ASAP.

Here's something interesting, as it shows that others are having this exact same problem also. It appears that some PSUs aren't compatible.

Note that I have an Enermax 431w and also a Channel Well Technology 450w (Lareon says he has an Antec 400w), and neither of those work with this card. Seems to be a serious, and not uncommon, issue.

Maybe these PSUs protection circuits cut in too quickly, as the card must have a significant current draw at start up, that makes it look like a short to the PSU.

Here's the link ...

AWI 9700 Pro - Hardware Analysis Forum

PS: I have searched the ATI site but came up empty handed. Maybe I'll take another look later.

Perhaps it's an issue with the fault-sensing power supplies... The people who said that THEIR systems work fine aren't messing around with enermax or antec PSUs, which are the higher end ones with fault sensing implemented. I'm going to try to get into contact with ATI today to find out what I can.

If the thing won't work in a system with one hard drive and two CDROM drives, and not much else installed (nForce2 + 450w PSU) then its not worth having.

I've removed the item and packed it ready for return so I'm not going to try any more s****tions other than those that might get it working.

Its not something that ATI will be able to fix easily as the design of the card needs to be modified - perhaps some sort of 'soft-start' circuit added.

I'm really surprised that something like this even made it past quality control during testing phase.

Maybe there is some other problem that only affects some of the cards produced, so I'll just have to wait till I get a response from tech support.

PS: Maybe nVidia's newer high power consumption cards (NV35/NV40) will also cause problems when released.

Yes, it still shuts off when you only plug in the mobo and the card...

I, also, am shipping the thing back. :: pleads for forgiveness :: I should never have left you, nVidia! Can you ever forgive me?!?

:: open new web browser to look at GeForce cards. ::

FYI - I'm using a True Blue 480 and not having any power problems.


But I'm getting (video device failures several times a night. I'm reading that it has alot to do with my E7205 mobo chipset. Any comments would greatly be appreciated.

PS- Did all Bios & ATI driver updates. I have noticed more stability by messing with the advanced display settings.

It's worth seeing if a bios update is available for your mainboard before looking at other solutions. Just visit the support section of your mainboard manufacturer's website - use google if you can't find it.

i am having the same damn problem

I am having the same god [edit] problem and its pissing me off. very frustrating. i have abit nf7-s, zalman 400watt, and the aiw 9700. the fans spin a couple times then crap out when the card is connected.. but when the card isn't connected it runs fine, except i cant see [edit]. just tells me i dont have it plugged in right
called ati, the never heard of this problem he said. I need a fix.. please.. right now im gonna use a different power supply and try and regulate the agp slot power consumption

This is an update to the problems that myself, and others here, have experience regarding Radeon AIW 9700 Pro.

I just received my brand new Radeon 9800 Pro today, and it worked perfectly, without a hitch, first time.

This leads me to suspect that there are a lot of Radeon cards being sold without having been tested properly during manufacture. This is probably due to cost cutting, and to expected failure rates being low. This issue may only apply to the AWI 9700 series cards, but it is impossible to say with any certainty.

If you receive a card that doesn't work, and suffers the same issues as described in this thread, then the card is faulty and you should return it, possibly for a different model. My Radeon 9800 Pro works perfectly, and I am really going to enjoy using this card, as its very fast.

Hope others find this update useful.

I know these posts are a little dated but I am having the idenitical problem with an AIW 9800 pro ... any updates on the cause of the problem?

Thanks!

I had a defective card (poor quality control at the factory). My new Radeon AIW 9800SE works fine, as does my 9800 Pro in my games PC.

Latest Info:

Hi,
Alot of time has passed since my last reply but I see the thread is still active. For Christmas I bought myself Flight Simulator 2004. After several months of stability running Catalyst 3.8 the computer flipped out with Flight Simulator. It would lock up in the cockpit everytime. Making a long story short, the latest Catalyst 3.10 fixed the issue. But get this. When I installed the drivers it whacked out my bios updates. Since when does upgrading your video drivers take out the bios. The reason I know is that the Gigabyte 8INXP board had problems with the bios drivers a couple versions ago and would display a DVPRM (sister board power supply) error on boot-up. This started up after installing 3.10 and went away when I restored to the last check point. At this time I can play Flight Simulator and the system stays stable after it has been up a second time. But a cold boot is a nightmare where windows stays in the splash screen for 4-5 mins and craps out. I don't know what it's doing or why. Once she reboots she's fine. But I have to go through that for a week now. I'm going to look for a bios update after this reply. I'll update if it's worth it. To this day I still don't know if the issues are the mother board or ATI. But there is a track record of people loving the 9700's and still hating gigabyte...........

Hey that's really wierd u say that, I used to have a Gigabyte Radeon 9700PRO and it didn't work properly for 9months. The technical support from them was absolute b*ll*cks so I got a Hercules 9800PRO and oh GOD is it fast. The 9700's have had loads of problems and i happenned to hav got one and i see you lot hav had problems too.
If I were you I'd stay away from gigabyte and walk closer to the 9800's.

hehe:grinthumb

HI, im writing a very brief note about my problem cause i deleted my whole 5 paragraphs before:

i accidentaly bent about 10-20 pins on the back of my cpu(3.8ghz) when replacing a heatsink(didnt replace properly) and it's a hell of a lot lower than normal. Is this because of the bent pins? (i know it is but reassure me) Is there any way I can fix it or anything to speed it up again?



thanks

Oops

Can't believe someone up here didn't flame me for stupidity....... The 8INXP by Gigabyte is one of their boards that has dual bios. Whenever the ATI display driver would crap out, the second bios would automatically boot as I had in the options. Problem is I never flashed that backup bios with the lastest. So it would really screw up the PC trying to boot with the old bios which I could never get to work with ATI. Things seem alittle better since I cleaned up my registry and turned off my fast writes in the ATI config. But I haven't used any of the capture features of the card which really so it's colors. I'll update when I get a chance. Headed to Mexico for a couple weeks to do some work for GM in Silao.