Won a Graphic Card on Ebay, Getting Black Screen on Bootup! | Forums

[S.h.r.i.k.e.]

I just bought a refurbished X800 Pro on ebay for my brother. The listing said it was in perfect working condition. I got it in the mail last night and wanted to test it out. I uninstalled my card, rebooted into Safe Mode, used Driver Cleaner, then rebooted and installed Cat 5.11. After the install reboot, Windows XP seems to load up fine. But, before I get to the desktop, the screen goes black. The only thing I could do is restart the computer. So, I rebooted into safe mode again and tried the whole process of uninstalling/reinstalling again to no avail. However, I did notice one thing, in device manager it says it is a X800 XT PE! I'm guessing someone tried a BIOS flash on the X800 Pro... Is there anyway to get it working?

Thanks

[-HH-Quazi]

I hate sellers that do this cr@p to people. Theu give eBay a bad name. I have purchased too many video too mention from sellers on eBay, individuals and eBay stores without any issues or problems. So sorry you were the one to get humped m8. It really angers me to no end.

Now, onto some dire help. I just went through something similar m8. I installed a 9800Pro in my gaming rig to test how it performs with a 939-pin gaming rig. I did this for TallyHo since he is considering upgrading his mobo/cpu and was curious as to how much of an increase he might see in the Kamikaze track. The way you described everything is exactly what I experienced when trying to install the 5.11's with this 9800Pro. I mean exactly to the tee. I even did the same by going into Safe Mode.

God I could type all day trying to explain this.

Try this. Turn your rig off. Remove that card and then put the other card back in. If all goes well, Windows will notice it and want to install drivers for it. Cancel both times it asks. Take this oportunity to uninstall the drivers. Use the Cat Uninstaller if you installed the Cat drivers with the CCC. If you are using the old Control Panel, then uninstall just as you did before. This time, use a registry cleaner to clean out all the unused/obsolete ATI registry entries.

Once this is done, turn your rig back off. Remove the card that is in it and install the X800 you purchased through eBay. Restart your rig and see if you get all the way into Windows. If you do, then I would think the card is fine. Reinstall the drivers once again. Just cancel Windows efforts to install the drivers for you and run the exe yourself. Post back and let us know how it goes.

Now, if for some reason it does not post or work properly, you should contact the seller and ask for a refund unless you purchased it as is. If that was stated in the auction, you, your brother I mean, will not get his $$$ money back. If this is the case, I will be happy to walk you through flashing the proper bios to it, if need be.

[S.h.r.i.k.e.]

Thanks for the help. I tried what you said and I'm still getting the same thing. The funny thing is that I can boot up Windows XP normally with the ebay card. I can restart it a couple times and it will still seem to work. However, once I install the ATI drivers (I've tried 5.11, 5.10, and 5.6) XP will load fine until right before I should go to the desktop, then a black screen!

Luckily the person I bought it from, stated it came with a 90 functional warranty. So if I can't get it to work with the drivers, then I should probably be able to get my money back. However, it is crazy he would even try and sell the card knowing it is this screwed up...

Any other ideas by chance?

[gurypuddle]

I have had a similar experiance before. With the flat panel display I was using if I used the manufactures drivers it would not let me run the refresh rate at 75hz. If I used Windows generic drivers I could.

So......here is what would happen. When I would update ATI drivers for my 9700pro Windows would want to use the drivers from my flat panel manufacture and would automaticaly change them over resulting in the same black screen affect you are describing.

If I booted in "Safe Mode" I could drop the refresh rate and then boot normaly and everything was groovy. Then I would change the display driver back to the Windows version and raise the refresh rate back to 75hz.

Anyway, could be your having a similar problem and playing with the refresh will help.

Hope you get it sorted out,

GP

[S.h.r.i.k.e.]

gurypuddle, that sounds like it is definitely worth a try. Please clarify one point for me, after you changed the refresh rate back in safe mode, could you still use ATI's Drivers?

Thanks

[gurypuddle]

Yes, I could use the ATI drivers with out any problems. The real issue was that when I would install new ones Windows was also changing the drivers for my flat panel display and would always start it out at 75hz. wich it didn't like. The result then was black screen.

Mabye just try loading the ATI drivers as you have been. When you get the black screen and are forced to boot in "Safe Mode" check out your refresh rate and see if it can be lowered. then re-boot normaly and see if it cares.

You could also check and see if there are a better set of drivers for your monitor.

GP

GP

[S.h.r.i.k.e.]

I have a CRT monitor so I have never installed any drivers for it. But I will give the refresh rate thing a try in safe mode!

[S.h.r.i.k.e.]

No luck with that. I lowered the refresh rate to the lowest setting and set my desktop res to 800x600. Then uninstalled drivers and put the card in, booted into safe mode. Windows wouldnt let me change my refresh rate settings in safe mode. Then I booted into windows and installed driver. Then rebooted after driver install and same thing happened, black screen when I get to the desktop....

[-HH-Quazi]

Well, since the seller is offering a refund, I'd send it back. I am not sure how much you paid for that X800, but if you are interested, there are two very reputable eBay stores that are auctioning X850Pros. I've watched over 200 of these auctions just out of curiosity, plus, I have purchased a couple of them for some m8s of mine. Nearly all are ending under $200. My m8s asked me to flash their cards for them before I shipped it to them. So far, all is well. I flashed both to an XT PE bios. Neither card was capable of stock XT PE speeds, but both were real close. I just edited the bios to the clock speeds each card could do and flashed the bios to them.

Now, I am not telling you this to tell you to purchase one and flash the bios. I am sharing this with you because even at factory speeds of 500/500 and 12 pipes open, you just can't beat the price for an X850Pro. Plus, the stores selling them have warranty periods. One is a member of Square Trade and offers a 3 yr. warranty for $15 I think.

I have had excellent communication with both companys. Just sharing another avenue to get a decent card and a decent price m8, and from trustworthy eBay stores.

[S.h.r.i.k.e.]

The total price with shipping was $155, not too bad from what I've seen going on ebay. As for the X850 Pro, I will mention that too him and see if he is willing to pay more for it. I just picked myself up a X850 Pro a week ago for myself on ebay. I've been kinda interested in trying to flash it to an X850 XT PE, but I can only get 540/1160 outta it on ATI Tool so am a little wary.