Graphics card failure, anything I could try

8

My gaming PC has decided to die, it's not the first time but usually a quick ATX reset brings it back to life. Today it didn't.

I disconnect all unessasary devices so I've only got the case button / LED cables, GPU, CPU, RAM and power connected, the computer still didn't turn on.

I've not got a speaker on my motherboard so found a spare one I have for testing and when the machine starts up I get one long beep and two short beeps from my Award BIOS, which apparently means a video card error. I change it with the GPU from another machine and all works well.

Q: So I have a faulty graphics card (an nVidia 8800GT OC), is there anything I can try to resurect it?

Edit

So I tried the answer sblair provided, and bugger me it's only gone and worked! I pre-heated my oven at 200*C for about 5 minutes, put the graphics card in for about 5 minutes before cranking it up to 230*C for the remaining 5 minutes.

I didn't notice any plastics warping, bending, softening etc, however the 8 or so RAM chips did appear to sweat a bit, but this could be the residue from the thermal pads that I removed before.

I couldn't be bothered to put the fan back on just to test it, so I slapped the card back in it's PCI-e bay and this time got the normal, single BIOS beep... WOOHOO!!!

I did put the card on a bit of thick cardboard, didn't want to ruin any of my favourite pizza trays. I decided to use cardboard without a design on it, as this was surely only going to melt / burn.

So there we have it, oven + broken gpu = happy ILMV + hours more fun on COD:MF2

EDIT

So I managed this cycle three times before the GPU finally died, still squeezed a few months out of it but the thing finally surcomed to the power of my oven :P, still pretty happy though

Ben Everard

Posted 2010-04-10T21:54:49.787

Reputation: 872

Bizzare, but kinda cool. – Tom A – 2010-04-13T15:32:37.997

Answers

14

If you are feeling adventurous, you could try putting it in the oven. I believe the theory is that micro-fractures in the soldering (which might be the cause of the failure) can be eliminated by re-melting the solder. Your mileage may vary...

sblair

Posted 2010-04-10T21:54:49.787

Reputation: 12 231

Not a theory, it's fact. In fact (no pun intended) I actually have a heatgun especially for this kind of thing, as I can focus the heat on the areas that need to be reballed. – AStopher – 2014-09-05T21:39:27.540

Interestingly this was also a suggested cure for the Xbox's RROD – Chris Thompson – 2010-04-10T22:50:29.000

1That's an interesting thought, what about the plastic 6-pin power connector, surely this would melt too? – Ben Everard – 2010-04-11T14:01:27.913

1

@ILMV Yes that's a good point, but the photos in the thread show that the PCIe power connectors are still attached for the baking. If you search the thread for "plastic" then others have suggested that the plastic may soften, but not fully melt at ~200deg C (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1034175173&highlight=plastic#post1034175173 http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1034357637&highlight=plastic#post1034357637 http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1034848733&highlight=plastic#post1034848733)

– sblair – 2010-04-11T21:11:40.860

Nice one, I think I'll give it a go, not really expecting success but worth a shot. – Ben Everard – 2010-04-12T08:18:45.237

4WHAT! F**ING Oh my god, so my girlfriend is like "Get out this will never work", so I slapped it in the oven on 200C for 10 minutes, stank the kitchen out and now it bloody works! If I could +1 you again I would... legend! – Ben Everard – 2010-04-12T22:15:48.643

1I'll +1 you for that. – Joe Taylor – 2010-04-13T15:13:24.870

3@ILMV - note that when this heat trick works, it's usually because there's a heat issue with the card and solder and it's likely to break again soon. You need to prepare yourself to replace that card. – Joel Coehoorn – 2010-09-04T02:31:39.230

@Joel it died a month ago, RIP nVidia 8800GT OC :P – Ben Everard – 2010-09-16T13:51:50.513

@sblair: What you have done is a DIY 'BGA Reflow'. I have done this on ThinkPad GPUs with a heatgun and IR thermometer. Some people have done it with blowtorches - check YouTube. – paradroid – 2010-09-16T13:57:54.977

Asked: 2010-04-10T21:54:49.787

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Active: 2010-09-16T13:54:51.233