Octopus Overlords

Last couple of weeks, about 30% of the time when I cold boot my rig, I get a red error box prior to my system posting about how there is no power source connected to my Radeo 9800. I know there is, and usually a power down or two and it'll boot up fine. It seems to be becoming more and more frequent, and since I got the Radeon used off Ebay 4 or 5 months ago, I'm wondering if it's the card.

Before I swap out my powersupply, I figured I'd ask around to see if anyone else has experienced this. I did change the power connection to the card from the shared hdrive one to the one that powers all my fans, but no difference. It's a 350 watt power supply, I'm running 2 hdrives, a cdrom, couple of case fans, and the video card.

Thanks.

Those symptoms sounds like the Radeon is dying. Try improving the cooling and see if that helps. Just leave the case open with a large table fan blowing right at it, see if there's an improvement. If there is, replace heatsink/fan or exchange the card.

As for the PSU failing to deliver the needed power, there's usually a BIOS option to see how much is on the rails; just check that the values are within bounds.

I also had a no post problem with an Asylum 5700 and it was the card going bad. Luckily Asylum had a lifetime warranty.