# [SOLVED] PCI Express Slot, Dead?



## lordreinhart

Long story short, for a few weeks my computer games kept freezing on me once in a while, making me have to reboot.. so I figured, nothing to worry about, it just must be the graphics card overheating... then one day the game froze again, but BSOD me and rebooted by itself, I actually think this happened a few times, but I am unsure..

The day it happened again though, (like I said I am not totally sure if this was the first time it BSOD on me, I seem to recall it has though). I couldn't get any signal from the graphics card, only the onboard VGA would work when I plugged into the onboard vga, plugged into the graphics card would give me no signal to the monitor.

So I thought ****, I must have fried the video card, I send it into the company that handles RMA's (EVGA) for this nvidia card, and they said there was actually nothing wrong with the card at all, but still sent me a new replacement card. Later puzzled after finding this out, I tried to reboot my cpu, and it kept rebooting itself after windows would start up, so I was now scared my computer is dead, but after reading some tips, I tried rebooting with one stick of ram at a time, and ended up finding out that one of the sticks of ram was causing my computer to endlessly reboot, so I had a bad stick of ram as well. 

So I tossed the bad stick of ram out, rebooted the cpu, cpu now boots fine, but its still only using the onboard VGA. This is the computer I am using right now to post on the forums too.

Now, once I got the replacement PCI express card (it's an Nvidia Geforce 8800), I put it in the pci express slot, booted up, and boom, still no signal to the monitor, nothing... 

*So I think the pci express slot has died, but why, and how can I fix it?

Here are a few things I've tried to do to revive this problem*

1) Yes, I have disabled onboard graphics in windows, and I have set the BIOS to boot up with PCI-E, (Theres no way to disable onboard graphics in bios perse, just how it boots up, its an HP Computer, with a ****ty motherboard), but still no signal from the graphics card.

2) Yes, I have tried a whole brand new power supply to see if maybe the power supply has degraded over time, and can no longer power up the graphics card anymore, this did not work either... I can tell that on both power supplies the card is recieving power, and the fan is running, and with this brand new 750 watt power supply, still no signal, so it's not a power issue 

3) I've booted up with a single stick of ram, and nothing else plugged in except, the graphics card in the pci express slot, hard drive, and keyboard, still no signal from the card.

4) I've reset the bios to default, and I've even cleared the CMOS.

So, what in the world could have happened to my pci express slot? It makes no sense what so ever, to go from my computer locking up playing World of Warcraft, getting a BSOD, and boom, pci express no longer works, and also having a bad stick of ram.

Could a bad stick of ram damaged the pci express slot?

*Here are my computer specs:*
HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7640n Desktop PC
A8M2N-LA Motherboard
Windows XP

I am hoping someone out there can help me, I know its a big post, but it's been a month, and really don't have the money right now to go buy a new motherboard, there has to be something I can do?


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

No the ram would not damage the PCI slot, but a failing power supply could damage the ram and the motherboard chipset that controls the slot, what was the original power supply you were using when the problem started?


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dynex&#...pply/8311052.p?id=1174091945952&skuId=8311052


Had it for like 2 years with no problems with the same graphics card.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Hard to say if it had problems that damaged the components or not it only takes 1 spike under load to do damage or many little ones, there would not necessarily be any red flags or buzzers that go off.
Dynex are not very good units, Corsair or Seasonic are.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Ah, so I guess the only possible explanation is the power supply going bad, killed the chipset that runs the pci express slot? Is there anyway to salvage that?


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## Tyree

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

If the slot is damaged, there is no repair. Replacement would be the only option. I'm surprised the Dynex PSU has lasted that long.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Try resetting the CMOS with the jumper if that does not make it work then it's going to need a motherboard.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

What does resetting the CMOS exactly do? Everything I read just says its for if you can't boot back up, I can boot, and I can use the computer, just the pci express slot isn't working.

I must also say that all the PCI slots work though, just not that pci express slot.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

It clears the Bios rom and resets it to default status, sometimes if the Bios detects a problem it will shut a component down.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Not sure what did it, but I cleared CMOS like you said with the jumpers / pins, and I also took off the pci express chips heat sink, cleaned the top, then put it back on, and ****, ITS WORKING.

Thank you very much, saved me 500 bucks of going replacing everything haha..

I doubt cleaning the chip on the motherboard fixed it or resetting the heatsink, but I did it just to see, and I also did the CMOS thing, I didn't think the CMOS thing would work because I had tried it numerous times before when I was just trying to get the cpu to boot, but it definitely had to have worked, thank you very much!!


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Did you replace the thermal paste on the northbridge heatsink?

Good to hear you have the video working


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Didn't replace the paste, there really wasn't anything on it, just a square outline of something foam like on the heatsink itself. I just took the heatsink off cus it was lose to begin with and kinda repositioned it, its tied down to the board by two clips, similar to paper clips.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

That foam thing was the stock heat pad, a little thermal will make the chip run cooler.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Ah, I'll buy some and put some on it, thanks again for all your help!


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead? (UPDATE NEW PROBLEM)*

Quick question:

So I got everything fixed right..

But for the past couple of days, when I play a computer game like World of Warcraft, at some point in the night it'll become graphic problems, and freeze, and i'll see weird coding text and graphics are all messed up, and when I reboot up, the graphics are still messed up, till I turn off the computer and come back 15 mins later, then all is fine..

I highly doubt its the graphics card, because it is brand new, and so is my new power supply, is it the chip that runs the pci express slot with the big heat sink doing this (don't know what the name of it is) ?

I'll also add that this just happened tonight, and when I touched the heatsink to the chip that runs the pci express slot, it's really really hot... I don't know if this is normal or not.

Could it be that that the chip that runs the pci express slot is overheating, and causing this new problem? Is there a way to cool it down and evade such problem?


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

And like I stated before, the heatsink is just sitting on top of the chip with that square inset of foam, nothing else.

Also, I am just assuming this chip runs the pci express slot, it's directly next to the pci express slot, and its about the size of a half dollar with its own little heatsink.

Here's the motherboard so you can see what exactly I am talking about..










It's that heatsink above the black pci express slot...

On the HP site, it says that that is this chip:










NVIDIA MCP51

Not sure what that is tbh, not that hardware savy, but I am almost certain it runs the pci express slot and w/e else it has to do.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Yea that is the Nvidia MCP chip it controls the slots, have you redone the thermal paste?
Check the temps with a program like Sensorview Pro to see which temp is going up when gaming> http://www.stvsoft.com/index.php?opt...d=17&Itemid=33


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Yeah I have not redone the thermal paste, I am going to the local computer shop to get some this week, and thanks again I'll check out the temp tomorrow, what's the norm, and whats dangerously hot if you know by chance.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Right now its 

CPU: 129 F
GPU: 140 F

Slowly raising as I run the game... but so far sitting around that level.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

See if the Bios gives you the motherboard (chipset) temp that's the one effected by the heatsink that was off.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Won't tell me the temp..

It happened again tonight, had the game running for about 7 hours, so I am almost certain its that overheating, the card itself is fine temperature wise so I know it's not that..

Unless it some other problem.

But like I said it just happened again tonight, after a 7 hour session of playing, graphics issues started arising, then the game froze, and i immediately checked the heatsink temperature with my hand, and it's really really hot, to the point that it might even burn your finger, but I don't know if this is normal or not.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Yea ya gotta love OEM boards, redo the thermal paste and see where you're at.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Hmm, not im not so sure what the problem is... because I left the computer off overnight, I turn it in, jump into World of Warcraft, and start noticing graphical problems slowly arrise, long horizontal and vertical lines randomly popping up, increasingly getting more and more, then what usually happens after this, everything just ***** up, and freezes..

Now when I close the game and such, theres no problems at all, nothing on the display or anything...

I am going to see if it happens in another game..

So now I don't necessarily think its the chip overheating, because its cold right now.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

hmm maybe it's just a world of warcraft issue, because in other games I just tried, I had no problems at all.

I guess I was quick to judge the chip, because of all that has happened to me thus far.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Should also just point out, I am not totally sure if it's just WoW, because it just happened again, and I had to hard boot the computer back up, and on the blue HP INVENT screen, there were tons of little out of color boxes / little lines, and on the windows loading screen, just little graphical pixels that were out of place. Then when windows fully loaded, it was gone.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Do the thermal paste, the sooner the better.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

I'll try to go find some tonight, but in the meantime, would it be better to have a fan blowing on the heatsink, or take the heatsink off so the fan is blowing on the chip?


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Neither really without the paste the heatsink does not have good heat transfer and without the heat sink the surface area of the chip is not large enough to cool it.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Okay, I'll try to get some today, sorry to have been so bothersome.

It was happening as soon as I turned on the PC again today, when I fired up World of Warcraft, all textures were messing up, artificats, and tons of sequential small rectangles, like a pattern, not a checker board, but a space, small long rectangle, space, and so on and so forth. So I wanted to make 100% sure it was just WoW, and it wasn't, I fired up another game, and same problem occured, textures messing up, 3d polygons getting all distorted.

Could the northbridge chip really cause all this to happen, or could this graphics card they sent me have been bad? (which i highly doubt.... )

When I do get this thermal paste, do I apply it under the heatsink, and on top of the chip, basically coating it all? Should also add that the chip under the heatsink, looks like a square of circuit board green, with a small black rectangle chip in the center. The heat sink covers the whole square as well, so do I apply it to the small little black chip, or the whole thing?

I really really appreciate all your help. This just baffles me, and it's possible the northbridge chip can cause all that?


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## Tyree

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

How to clean and apply thermal paste.
http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=134


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Okay thank you, here's a picture of the heatsink / ms paint drawing of the chip itself, I am a little confused as to how you would spread it on this specific thing.











Secondly, I took the heatsink off, and tried to boot the cpu, and it wouldn't even get past the windows loading screen with the heatsink off, and computer turns off (Was going to try to get a picture of the chip itself), but heatsink back on, cpu boots up.

I just find it odd that this northbridge chip can cause the graphics to **** up like that. I should also point out that, as of now, every graphical thing is ******* up, when i turn the computer on, and it slows down when I scroll windows and mouse unable to move and such, then it goes black with a huge grey bar on the top. 

So I am running off the onboard VGA, and disconnected the graphics card for now.

I am reallly reallly hoping putting the thermal paste on this will fix my problem.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

I am also picking up this thermal paste tonight

Dynex® - Silver Thermal Compound
Model: DX-STC 100 | SKU: 6321946


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## Tyree

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

My apologies! I was thing CPU.
You carefully slip those small clips (labled Clip 1 & Clip 2) from the hooks holding them. GENTLY twist the heatsink slightly from left to right while apply a LIGHT upward pull. 
Clean the old paste from the heatsink & Chip with the Alcohol. Apply a very small drop of paste onto the chip. Set the heatsink down on the chip and GENTLY apply pressure while twisting it slightly to spread the paste. Hold the heatsink firmly in place and Reconnect the two clips.
The Dynex paste will be fine.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Appply Just to the little rectangle in the center? Or all of the square circuit board thing?

And thank you !


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## Tyree

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Just the little rectangle.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Applied the paste, still having major graphic problems :/

And it's a brand new card.

I'll try to get some photos of the problem in a few minutes,

one major thing I am noticing right now, is a bunch of green pixels everywhere when windows starts up.

When I am in BIOS, theres nothing wrong at all. I don't see these pixels or anything.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

I don't want to jinx myself, but now all of the sudden its working fine....

Could it have just needed the paste to settle in and cool down, and such to go back to operating normal?

I really hope im not jinxing myself by saying its working now haha, but sitting for a while now it seems to be fine, and I loaded up a game, all good.... I'll post again if it starts up again.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Yeah totally ******* jinxed myself...


Here, I managed to get photos of the symptoms I am having now..

First it was those green lines of pixels, then windows' windows and such would lag and not look right (look at the Welcome text), and my mouse would get stuck and such, then look at how the game looks, and then finally totally ****** up in the last picture.

Anyone figure out why?

It's a brand new video card, brand new power supply, put the thermal paste under the heatsink and the northbridge chip, I am so stumped and upset about this right now..

I don't get any problems when I run with the onboard vga (unplugging the graphics cards), it's through the nvidia 8800 graphics card in the pci express slot that turns this **** up :/


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

That looks like a video card issue to me, if you have or can borrow another card to test with, make sure it's not a monitor or video cable issue by trying them on a different PC or a different monitor and cable on yours, there is a possibility that the northbridge chip is failing but there are usually also memory pointer errors when that is the case.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Don't have another card or another pc to test either or. 

Could the northbridge chipset have damaged the card?

What pisses me off the most, is, this is a brand new card RMA'd from EVGA, so I highly doubt they would have sent me a broken card.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

It maybe a damaged northbridge but it just looks to be more a video card issue, perhaps a local shop could test the card or email those picts to EVGA support and see what they think.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Here's the email I got back from them

I there we are checking the +12v. This should be somewhere from 11.8 - 12.6. If it is outside of that range, Contact BFG and see if they will replace it. The next thing to check is that your ram is properly setup. This will normaly be done under freq/voltage control. If you are running more then 1 ram kit. Get in touch with the makers for the proper settings. If none of this helps. You may need to get the card replaced. 

I checked with HWMonitor, and the ATX +12v has a range of 12.11 - 12.7 max on the power supply.


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## Wrench97

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

I don't see the -12v being the issue but if you check it with a digital voltmeter and it's out of range I would have BFG swap the supply.

For the ram as a test you could drop down to one stick and see if the screen issue is still there. 

I think the last line in their email is the problem.


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## lordreinhart

*Re: PCI Express Slot, Dead?*

Yeah I tried that, I dropped down to one stick, still a problem, so I tried a different stick, still the problem, I am guessing maybe the north bridge overheating could have damaged the card


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