Graphics card blew up yesterday

[Carl D]

Sheesh, my 6 month old nVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS card died on me yesterday. I was installing Ubuntu on a spare hard drive in the tower and all of a sudden there was a loud 'pop' and a bright flash then the screen went black. The rest of the PC was still running.

The fan has seized up (well, almost. Its very hard to turn it). That's what caused it to overheat, of course.

You can see where its burnt, like a sort of black gooey stuff there. Lucky I've kept my 4 year old ATI Radeon 9600 card, I'm using that on the main PC at the moment. I thought I'd lost the receipt but I've found it, thank goodness. Back to the computer store it goes in the next day or two.

 

[JogaBonito1502]

I had an old 5xxx; it melted. I'm not even joking...if I can find it I'll get a picture.

 

[Neodude1123201]

I Guess someone is shopping for a new graphics card.....

 

[parismouton]

i installed a 9600 agp a few years back at a clients.
shook hands, he paid and we left his office. 2 hours later he called to say the fire brigade had been called after the melting 9600 set off all the smoke alarms.
if you ever go into business for yourself, make sure you have insurance!!!!

 

[Carl D]

After a bit more investigation here's what actually happened:

See how the fan is out of alignment? High on the left side and low on the right.

The fan blades are rubbing against the top cover on the left side making it hard to spin, the bearing or mounting must have failed causing it to go out of whack.

 

[xtremezx2]

sounds like it's time for an rma!

 

[David Lindon]

You could try returning it. Its not exactly your fault so you might get a replacement

 

[D-Lew]

I like how you put a 'sploded GPU on an anti-static bag.

 

[worshipme]

I had an old 5xxx; it melted

That's definitely not a suprise!!

 

[Carl D]

Thanks, guys.

It should still be under warranty, I've only had it for 6 months. I think there's a 12 month warranty on it at least. I'll take it back either today or tomorrow. I haven't got my car at the moment or I would have returned it already.