Screwy Video Card Problem

[tmtomh]

(1) Beige G3, ATI Rage 128 PCI video card, 17" Apple blue and white CRT monitor: works great.

(2) Power Mac G4 "Yikes," with either of two similar ATI Rage 128 PCI video cards, and same Apple monitor: works great.

I sold the two cards from the Yikes, and today I needed to boot it up and test it. So I swapped the Rage 128 card from the beige G3 into the Yikes - and here the problems began:

(3) Yikes with Rage 128 card in the "dedicated monitor" PCI slot (66MHz I think): no video; monitor stays black, and its power light stays amber.

(4) Then tried the card in one of the Yikes' other, "regular" PCI slots (33MHz): corrupt video - vertical lines on initial boot screen, then totally messed up colors, lines, cursor, everything, when it boots to the desktop.

(5) Swapped video card back into beige G3: same problem, corrupt video; now I get the same issues with the beige G3, whereas this card worked fine with the beige G3 just yesterday.

(6) Tested the CRT monitor using the beige G3's built-in monitor port: works great.

So, did I fry the ATI Rage 128 card by sticking it into the special "monitor slot" PCI slot in the Yikes machine? Or was it just a coincidence, and the ATI video card was about to fail anyway?

FYI, these problems are not affected by booting into a different OS on each machine, or by zapping PRAM, or by cleaning the contacts on the video card and blowing out dust from the PCI slots on both machines.

Anything I'm missing here? Any possibility the ATI card ISN'T fried?

TIA for any insights/advice,

Matt

 

[sircabulon]

The 66 mhz slot should not effect it. If the card can fit into the slot normally, then it is rated for that speed. Are there any broken or loose solders on the VGA connector? I have had that happen to me on an old card once after swapping it. Sounds like you need a new video card.

 

[tmtomh]

Thanks for the reply, sircabulon.

I think you're right - the card is toast. I tried it again in the 66MHz slot, and this time I got some video, but it was the same corrupted video I get in the 33MHz slot (and in the beige G3).

I inspected the card and could find no visible broken solder joints, but there's probably something busted somewhere.

Oh well; time to troll my local Craigslist and Freecycle for PCI video cards or busted G3s and G4s with good cards in them!

M