Holy crap, it worked! Dead video card resurrected!

this thread makes me happy. I am now actively searching on craigslist for videocards that have rendering problems just so I can buy them and test this trick out.

I'm going to have to try this out with one of my friends dead cards.

Im bummed , in 10 years and prolly 20 cards ive never had one go bad on me. lol

Clean your kitchen imo.

I resurrected a 360 that I just could just NOT revive. I tried the heat gun trick but it wouldn't work.

I have great experience with electronics and repair. I've been an IT specialist, but I would say that I specialize in hardware (heck it's probably from all the stuff I learned here at OCF over the past 6 years).

DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!

I protected the 360 just as everyone else that did the oven trick had used: old clothing and tin foil.

I set my oven to 475F, and placed the 360 board in the oven for approximately 15 min total. The board was nicely protected everywhere but the GPU and CPU on both sides of the board. There are capacitors and other parts that will get damaged from the heat... always protect what shouldn't see this kind of heat. I timed 8-9 minutes for 475F (preheated the oven first of course). I then dropped the temp to 350F for 2.5 min, then 250F for 2.5 min, then 175F for 2.5 min. I then turned the oven off and let the board sit in there for another 2 min. After the cool down, I finally opened the oven door and let the 360 sit in there for 20-25 min. I came back to a cooled down oven, took the 360 board out, took off the protecting I had put over the 360 board, and let it sit and cool down on top of a table for 15 min.

I put the heatsinks back on and still got the 3RLOD. I was very upset, but decided to unmount the GPU heatsink and hold it down by hand instead (to relieve the uneven pressure that the dumb stock cooling provides). WABAM IT WORKED!! I must say that I've definitely learned something valuable from this experience. Trust me, I did a lot of reading before I tried this method.

I've read about many different temperatures that people used and different methods for the oven trick, but I decided this one on my own based on prior experience. I went with a higher temperature than what most used because I knew I would be very careful. I also sat there and watched it all with the oven light on. Nothing else melted, no bad smells came out, and it was all safely done. The cool down method I used is much better than most as it's a much slower cool down. You don't want to do your cool down too fast and you don't want to do it too slow either as too slow may be too much heat exposure. I don't know for a fact but I feel like too much heat exposure may warp the board.

Anyway, I wasn't surprised with the result as I used to work for www.blitzsafe.com where they had an oven (yes, one that is MEANT to do this kind of stuff). We used to paste the PCBs with solder paste (literally paste, so it has somewhat of a sticky effect to it), then the PCBs would be placed on another machine that was laser activated... that machine would grab each tiny little electrical component and drop it on the board. When finished, the board would go into an oven (sort of like the toaster ovens with the revolving matt that you see at some delis) and would take maybe 10-20 min to go through. Inside the oven was different temperature zones and then a cool down zone with high CFM fans. By the end of the travel, the board would be a little hot to the touch, but good to go.

When I protected my 360 board in the oven, I didn't use electrical tape like everyone else as I know it melts. I have a reel of twist tie. I took the twist tie and snapped off pieces that were about 3 feet long. I think took utility scissors and cut slits into the protective (plastic?) layer over the twist tie, about every 6 inches. I then peeled off the protective layer from the twist tie just as you would do when stripping electrical wire. After stripping the entire twist tie, I ended up with just the metal on the inside. I used that sort of as twine when holding down the protective layering that I put over the 360. Remember, I used ABSOLUTELY NO TAPE at all. Everyone else used some sort of adhesive. The best idea I had seen was Blu-Tack, but I don't have any. I don't even know how well it works, but it sounded like a good idea. The trick I did was cut a big piece of tin foil, roll up and crumple one end of it to about halfway of the sheet that I had cut, and then that gave a nice body/build to it. The section with the crumpled end of the tin foil was what I used to surround the CPU and GPU.

I hope this becomes useful to someone else.

PATIENCE AND PLANNING IS NECESSARY FOR POSITIVE RESULTS. Don't ever forget that. I'm not a professional, but this is coming from someone with experience. Don't underestimate your impatience. I've been beat by it before.

If anyone else is interested in trying this, please... PLEASE be careful and don't use anything that can catch fire. Also, have a fire extinguisher handy. I had it right by my side. I did NOT expect a fire, but I like to be cautious when dealing with heat and fire.

Here's a pic before it went into the oven (I took the pic w/my phone):

Definitely need to try this on an old x1600xt that just stopped working, not much of a card, but its worth a shot.

As cool as this, i wouldnt recommend doing it...you could easily start a fire, and not to mention theres a good change that it still wont work. If any of the solder joints connect together creating a bridge it will short out or not work at all. Also if the solder isn't completely covering the metal piece and the circuit board, its not going to work.
It would be alot easier to make sure nothing got messed up if you do the solder work yourself. Its real easy
But hey, if i come across any dead video cards ill give it try see what happens....in a old computer i dont care about


KG

Originally Posted by King Icewind

As cool as this, i wouldnt recommend doing it...you could easily start a fire, and not to mention theres a good change that it still wont work. If any of the solder joints connect together creating a bridge it will short out or not work at all. Also if the solder isn't completely covering the metal piece and the circuit board, its not going to work.
It would be alot easier to make sure nothing got messed up if you do the solder work yourself. Its real easy
But hey, if i come across any dead video cards ill give it try see what happens....in a old computer i dont care about

No one is adding any solder, therefore it isnt going to bridge. Also the temp used seems to be just enough to remelt cracked solder, saying this is like a full reflow isnt exactly accurate. The temp used isnt high enough for that, and if it was the components would fall off. Someone found a balance between temperature, and the time left in so that just enough heat to fix small (if not microscopic) solder cracks.

Caution is always good, and there has been alot of good advice given such as a warmup period and a cool down period, both in the heated oven.

If someone has a dead card its worth a shot (unless the card still has a warranty).

Read the whole thread before dumping on it.

Originally Posted by GoodBoy

No one is adding any solder, therefore it isnt going to bridge. Also the temp used seems to be just enough to remelt cracked solder, saying this is like a full reflow isnt exactly accurate. The temp used isnt high enough for that, and if it was the components would fall off. Someone found a balance between temperature, and the time left in so that just enough heat to fix small (if not microscopic) solder cracks.

Caution is always good, and there has been alot of good advice given such as a warmup period and a cool down period, both in the heated oven.

If someone has a dead card its worth a shot (unless the card still has a warranty).

Read the whole thread before dumping on it.

Good call. I totally overlooked that. I don't think solder points will bridge either b/c (if you read my post a few posts above - the long one about my positive experience) I know how the ovens work. Solder has a sticky effect to it, so it's not like anything is really going to "fall off," not to mention that an oven is EXACTLY how the card was put together to begin with!

And you're right, it's not like we're adding solder to it. And to top it off, there's not a single person on this planet that can solder a BGA chip back on. He mentioned the best way was to solder yourself... you kidding me? Only an oven can possibly fix a damaged BGA chip.

Another method would be to re-ball the solder yourself, but to know which BGA chip to do that to or even to do them all would take days!! The oven is the easiest, most probable way to cure embedded CPUs, GPUs, and BGA chips, and beyond that as well.

Those tiny little transistors are DEFINITELY NOT EASY to solder back on. The only "easy" ones would be capacitors. Beyond that, you have to be at least an intermediate, which I'd consider myself... and even I've had trouble with the small resistors.

I remember at one of my old jobs... it's very easy for the small components to stick to the soldering iron b/c they have so little mass to them.

Just a little update to my post: I replaced all of the caps on my x300 and tested the card more extensively, and it is working great. (again, note to everyone thinking of doing this that standard electrolytic caps will bulge/melt at 375F)

Also, I didn't protect anything on my two cards as opposed to g0dM@n. Although, maybe if I did, I wouldn't have had to recap my x300!

Originally Posted by BigBadBiologist

Just a little update to my post: I replaced all of the caps on my x300 and tested the card more extensively, and it is working great. (again, note to everyone thinking of doing this that standard electrolytic caps will bulge/melt at 375F)

Also, I didn't protect anything on my two cards as opposed to g0dM@n. Although, maybe if I did, I wouldn't have had to recap my x300!

Well how hot did you go? If the exposure is minimal and the temperature isn't scorching hot, you can get away with not protecting everything.

Also, you revived an x300.... you mean a Radeon? Those are so cheap these days. Did you do it just for gits and shiggles (yes, that's how I say it so I can post it)?

I had an EVGA 8800GTS that came with a lifetime warranty, but they were unwilling to back the warranty because the card was never registered, so I popped it in the oven for 9 minutes at 385 F. The card is working like new again! Thanks!

Originally Posted by g0dM@n

Well how hot did you go? If the exposure is minimal and the temperature isn't scorching hot, you can get away with not protecting everything.

Also, you revived an x300.... you mean a Radeon? Those are so cheap these days. Did you do it just for gits and shiggles (yes, that's how I say it so I can post it)?

Yeah, I did a Radeon x300 and nVidia 6800 (posted a couple pages back) 375F for 10 min. I did it to see if the method works... for shits and giggles... and to have a couple more cards for the test bench.

Originally Posted by matera

I had an EVGA 8800GTS that came with a lifetime warranty, but they were unwilling to back the warranty because the card was never registered, so I popped it in the oven for 9 minutes at 385 F. The card is working like new again! Thanks!

awesome!


i take donations.


has anyone had a "fixed" card break on them again yet?

Worked like a charm for my 2 days dead BFG 8800GTX. The card was showing blue dots all over instead of actual graphics. Wouldn't even boot into windows anymore.

Removed the heat sink, Baked at 390 degrees for 9 minutes.

Was playing for 4 straight hours with no problems. I guess I can return the replacement card now

I still can't believe it worked.

Originally Posted by King Icewind

As cool as this, i wouldnt recommend doing it...you could easily start a fire, and not to mention theres a good change that it still wont work. If any of the solder joints connect together creating a bridge it will short out or not work at all. Also if the solder isn't completely covering the metal piece and the circuit board, its not going to work.
It would be alot easier to make sure nothing got messed up if you do the solder work yourself. Its real easy
But hey, if i come across any dead video cards ill give it try see what happens....in a old computer i dont care about

Thanks for the website. I needed a laugh.

Originally Posted by Stiletto

Thanks for the website. I needed a laugh.

OMG... that's just wrong!!

i torched a friend's 360 that has been RROD for months, works fine now. Literally just took a butane torch to the heatsinks long enough to melt solder and keep it melted for a few minutes. i didnt leave heat on it steady, just on and off. i was suprised that it worked, but its what i thought would work.

Originally Posted by david_Mc0

I'm surprised that 385 degrees was hot enough - I know solder paste I use doesn't reflow till about 410-420f (unless my thermometer is rubbish and is lieing to me!).

Many components should not be at this temperature for 8-10 minutes, more like 30 seconds max, though clearly they can take more than the spec says! Great that it works; far better than throwing the card out ;-)

The specs are for when there is electricity going through. With no current most things in a modern computer can take these temps/times that people are having success with...after all, it is a decent approximation of how the components are soldered in the first place.

I'm very impressed with the 360 results. I'll keep this in mind if mine rrod's on me

when life gives you lemons.. bake lemonade!