Welcome to the team!!

Radeons 9*00 are my all time favorite video cards, but to be honest I'm afraid of using mine, I have a 9700PRO, a 9800PRO AIW and a 9800XT.

My 9800PRO AIW is also dead, so I will be following this topic as well.

Yes, you should see the AGP card in that list.

Check if it has any scratches on any trace.
I see many dead V1 card on ebay with the same symptom so it might be something wrong with the series. I have V2 cards and will recommend them if you want to get a 9800. They die less.

Completely dead chip.

Ok I tried all the usual tricks I found browsing Vogons and I declare the card dead. So if someone wants it for parts, just PM me and I'll give it away instead of being a dick and selling it as untested (beware, I'm in Switzerland, but I can also send from France). The cooling solution should be generic as it's a rebranded Arctic Cooling product and it's perfectly working and good.

It's a HIS Excalibur RADEON 9800 PRO IceQ 128MB: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/radeon/his-1.html

Don't do that , instead elaborate the tread , do you have Volt meter? let's start at basics and move up , if you wish I may assist , I think I have a few of the cards myself and somewhere in my past a volt checking schematic.

Did fan spin-up? anything getting warm hot? missing smd's? Check verry carefully , compare to all-available online high-rez photos.

first dinsmantle the circular metal bracket under the fan cooling , on the chip . it's useless causes big head-akes.
the, mount only the radiator on the gpu , be sure radiator is perfectly on top of gpu. then test , see if fan is on and you have volts on fan. If all is ok , reflow the radiator from top. (radiator mounted to GPU).
let it cool re test , or if you are afraid of reflow , before you mount radiator on GPU use hot iron at cotton settings for 10-15 minutes *wont affect anything it's only at 190C , let it cool , remount everything -test.

I have a Radeon 9800 XXL/XT with just ONE SMD getting knocked off, and it has the same issue. It's out being repaired at the moment. It worked fine before, so definitely look at the SMDs.

so mount a smd , check previous post. I am not even sure what state are mine , I don't have 9800s anymore , but do have rest of the lot. I can start probing and testing if you all want to expand the topic. (from 9500's to 9700's , 9600 AIW to 9650 Apple , and lower , so most of everything).

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-06-03, 18:23:

so mount a smd , check previous post.

That's what the "out being repaired" is doing.

Meatball wrote on 2023-06-03, 18:23:

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-06-03, 18:23:

so mount a smd , check previous post.

That's what the "out being repaired" is doing.

the AIW (powercolor) 9600 Pro is ok, scrach that from the list , that's in one of my older builds. I still have the box .

Back when 9800Pro/XT/XTX was new I gone trough 4 of them 😁 (talk about extreme gaming in 03-04)....

try some schematics from here :

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=90093

https://www.gadget-manual.com/amd/
& more here :
https://www.repairlap.com/threads/collection- … oardview.10570/
P.S. I hope no one try's mounting this(R350/360) to a AGP 2x , 3.3 V board....

I had a careful look and I can't see any visible scratches that could indicate a trace interruption. Also I can't see any components that are missing, that is by comparing it to other pictures I could find (but are not all identical...) and most of all I can't see any "matte" solder points which would indicate a torn off element.

As asked before, there is some power coming to the card as the fan spins just right. And I can't feel any particular hot point with my fingers on the back of the card. The front is not really accessible with the huge heatsink on it. As for the bezel around the GPU, it's not interfering, the heatsink made perfect contact with the die.

The seller probably already tinkered with the card as the thermal paste that was on the chip was much too new for it being 20 years old...but the die seems undamaged. And as I have no idea of this card's previous life I can't tell if it has been in a 3.3V slot 😀 I'll have a look at the schematics to see if I can poke around to check some voltages.

In the end it was a 20€ card I got locally, not the end of the world. I wonder if it worked and the seller actually destroyed it just before selling it by "testing" it, this would explain the fresh thermal paste. I told him to not power up the card as old thermal paste + the infamous bezel could lead to overheating...This card was more of an opportunity buy instead of a real need, I have a Radeon 9600 XT which does the job perfectly for the games I play on this system.

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-06-03, 18:17:

If all is ok , reflow the radiator from top. (radiator mounted to GPU).
let it cool re test , or if you are afraid of reflow , before you mount radiator on GPU use hot iron at cotton settings for 10-15 minutes *wont affect anything it's only at 190C , let it cool , remount everything -test.

What do you mean by reflowing the radiator? Cook the GPU/card at 190°C?

Minutemanqvs wrote on 2023-06-04, 06:48:

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-06-03, 18:17:

If all is ok , reflow the radiator from top. (radiator mounted to GPU).
let it cool re test , or if you are afraid of reflow , before you mount radiator on GPU use hot iron at cotton settings for 10-15 minutes *wont affect anything it's only at 190C , let it cool , remount everything -test.

What do you mean by reflowing the radiator? Cook the GPU/card at 190°C?

No no no. ( I don't mean that)

First off , remove the metal brazel , it just get's in the way ,( use solvent may be easier.)

Second , if you don't have a hot air station you can set to temp for a REFLOW , then ,
You can use (without risk to anything) a Hot Iron (you use for your shirt's) , you set that to Cotton setting , (that's around 190C) and let it sit the edge -of iron to cover the gpu (don't push it , weight of the iron is enough). for 10-15min (better for 15m) , then let it cool (the card ) to room temperature , repack everything & test. (this was best way to save m84=m8700GT gpu on my alienware , lasted the longest) however ATi GPU's are more solid , but if it's a die(silicone/chip) problem this will fix that issue.

L.E. is there a part missing there (?) :
(recheck online pls). - squared with blue.

How about R954?

..... on the back side , there are even more abnormality's , and only you can identify correctly if items/parts are missing or not.

LE. maybe I was wrong , maybe everything is in order... I checked most of it against the ixbt photo...

I had a detailed look at these soldering points, all are a shiny blob. It really looks like it's just like that from the factory.

That's the exact same card from the article I linked before and the same elements are missing (for example R954):

https://www.ixbt.com/video2/images/ref/r9800p … -scan-front.jpg
https://www.ixbt.com/video2/images/ref/r9800p … o-scan-back.jpg

But what I just realised under a sharp light is that someone played with the 2 little DIP switched just under the fan connector. The protective "anti tinkering" adhesive has been forced into.

LE. maybe I was wrong , maybe everything is in order... I checked most of it against the ixbt photo...

be sure SW1 is standard , and test again , not sure SW1 what was it ... for ... voltage?

The only problem with the Radeon 9800 PRO (old PCB) is the lack of temperature monitoring.
ATI's reference design provided for a "decorative" cooler, which was joyfully copied by other manufacturers.
If there was temperature monitoring, users would raise a howl that the card is heated at 90 degrees Celsius. And manufacturers would have to strain.

And so, the card is most likely fried.
If you want to actively use working card, you need to change the cooler right away.

if the card is fried(chip , and won't come back to life after Hot ironing like M8700GT) is easy to determine , 1 GPU get's ultra hot , 2 other part get's ultra hot , 3 everything sits under 35C after 2h of working blank in a PC.

however not think this is the case it had the big cooler Arctic silencer 5 or something , that's good cooler. And it cools , and as owner sayed it had good contact with GPU , (that's possible as it's not original cooler) , I still suggest removing bracket around GPU. for best contact.

LE. BTW most of the times if GPU is 100% blown it won't have power on the fan rails , so I am not sure that it's 100% dead. (it's a good sign you have power on fan rails).

I'll try to reflow the GPU during the week as a last resort test, but it will probably end up as a parts donor 😀 About 20 years ago I had the exact same card, and it also died unexpectedly. Reading about all the dead 9800 doesn't surprise me all that much.

Minutemanqvs wrote on 2023-06-04, 10:04:

I'll try to reflow the GPU during the week as a last resort test, but it will probably end up as a parts donor 😀

Try hot iron first (much safer) , apply direct to GPU ,

For Reflow , use little flux under GPU (or corners) , and remount Radiator on top (so it has metal on it , don't apply direct flow of air to chip, could do more dmg. , Will send heat temps steps:

0. cover parts you don't want heated with aluminium chicken foil.

1. Preheat 3min - 100 C
2. 200C (392F)- 10 min
3. 230 C from side's of gpu (not center top)
4. 250-270 on chip (or better put +10 more C and keep the radiator on it)
5. cool steadily to 100C for 4-5min
6. You can heat backside for up to 2 min , with 300C with radiator on GPU .

let it all cool to room temp. (sadly I did all that 4 times and on alienware m8700GT , would just not last , it was a defective IC ... silicone GPU , so only thing that last's up to 1 month was the hot ironing -much safer).

Sad-est part is , that any of those tiny part's can fail , and if they do high chance it won't post image. ( I had a tiny ram smd surface mounted ohm resistor failed /img] or broken in 2 on a Ford Navi , and could not fix it , I changed the part from a ram module - it was for ram in the navi - and during the soldering process with hot air station the mounted salvaged part broke in 2 , so I could not fix it , and the ground port under it flew of the board so I lost that 2 , so micro , so many things can go wrong).