I would try the card in another system just for giggles, but other than that, it's very likely one of the caps on the card gave up the ghost after being in storage for so long and such.

If that's the case, then it's fixable, but only if you know how.

fsmith2003 wrote:

I feel I may already know the answer to this question but just want to ask the masses and see for sure. I recently acquired a 2001 era computer with a P4 1.9ghz and a Geforce 3 Ti 500 from a friend. He found it in a storage unit and told me I could have it. I looked it over physically and then turned it on to see if it actually worked. And it did! Everything booted just fine. Well for about 24 hours at least. I had left the computer on for maybe 2-3 hours while I was messing around with it. I had left it to go do something else and after a few more hours came back only to find it was now not giving me any picture. Just a black screen. The monitor was still indicating that it was receiving a signal because the light was lit up green. But nothing was there. I restarted but only a black screen still. I replaced the video card with another one I had laying around and it would then work.

So basically what I would like to find out is if there is anything I can check on the Geforce 3 to decide whether or not it is a lost cause. If anyone has some advise it would be greatly appreciated!

Did its fan spin before and after the black out?

lazibayer wrote:

Did its fan spin before and after the black out?

Yes the fan was spinning before the issue and it still does spin when turned on.

Reputator wrote:

I would try the card in another system just for giggles, but other than that, it's very likely one of the caps on the card gave up the ghost after being in storage for so long and such.

If that's the case, then it's fixable, but only if you know how.

Would you happen to know a good place to get a hold of some capacitors for the card? I could try replacing if nothing else works.

fsmith2003 wrote:

Would you happen to know a good place to get a hold of some capacitors for the card? I could try replacing if nothing else works.

I buy mine from Chinese sellers on ebay. The trickiest part is finding the exact match (voltage and capacitance) when the caps sometimes use a code system.

Have you inspected the card really closely for anything that might be visibly wrong?

You didn't mention which connector you were using (DB-15 i presume?) if so, try to connect monitor to DVI or use DVI to DB-15 converter and see if you get a picture. If your monitor detects cards presence, most likely, H and V sync signals are present, but not the RGB signals. Fault may lie in damaged RGB signal components near monitor connector (unlikely, consists of resistors, inductors, cer. caps and diodes) or some logic IC that is a part of RGB control circuit (AND gates IC or such). Testing electrolytic caps in voltage regulator section is also an option.

Well I managed to get somewhat of a picture when I used either the composite or s-video connection. However I can only view the bios boot screen and safe mode of windows. There are several blue and white dots and lines vertically across the screen as well. So does this seem to be a capacitor issue at this point?

My vote goes to fried memory, which would explain the vertical lines/artifcats.
Also taken into account the motherboard works fine with other video cards. Sorry.

Is fried memory something that can be replaced or is that not possible?