Holy crap, it worked! Dead video card resurrected!

will it likely not work if left in for only 5 minutes? because i did that with my GeForce Go 7800 GTX because i was scared that it was getting far too hot and smelling like it was melting up... well the card worked until i decided to tighten up the screws on the heatsink assembly and moved the laptop into another room.. when i turned it on the results were worse, but it did fix it for awhile.... is too little also not a good idea?

I had just posted earlier tonight with a similar problem I was facing with my older x2 4200+ 939 system in my daughters room that uses an EVGA 7900GT...I bought the PC from iBuypower.com back in 2006, and this was the card I choose at the time.

What's really scary, is seeing the old invoice of $2500...God the system I could build now for that price lol...thank god that PC was a gift from my grandfather (he gave it to me after I made the third payment lol ).

Any way, here is a couple pics of the problem:

Some (crappy) pics of me taking it apart and cleaning it up:

All cleaned up and ready to cook!

In the oven and cooking away!

Disregard the dirty oven, this is the most it's seen in a while...

Now the cooldown process...hope it works...Extra Crispy S/N tag too

We'll see how it turns out...the hour is almost over...

Originally Posted by budec

Nice trick!

I would be careful about this though. Heating up, melting down or burning electronics can release toxins into the air that could cause brain damage and/or death.

.......

Well, it booted up fine, even felt smoother, somehow faster once in the desktop...was fine from program to program, and web stuff...but as soon as I switched users, same screen again...so maybe it is the card...dunno...

Originally Posted by memnoch_thedevil

Well, it booted up fine, even felt smoother, somehow faster once in the desktop...was fine from program to program, and web stuff...but as soon as I switched users, same screen again...so maybe it is the card...dunno...

try it again?

does anyone remember the old radeon 9500 that you could soft mod into 9700PRO but it would have the checkerboard effect? i wonder if this method would have worked on those?

Add my GeForce Go 7800 GTX to the list of cards that didn't benefit from even two times in the oven @ 385F. first time @ 5minutes was more successful than the second time through at 8.5 minutes and even more careful reapplication of thermal paste (Arctic Cooling MX-2.)

the hack just didn't give me results, and i don't know if i could goto sleep knowing nothing about the reliability if it did seem to work...

I find this idea hilarious and I am seriously tempted to try it out on an old 7600GT that started showing lines down the screen after a power surge. But I have a fan assisted oven. Do I need to reduce the temperature setting I use?

Hehe... I think mine is fan assisted too... but it worked fine @ 385...

I doubt it will work for every card, and I wouldn't recommend this as a long term solution (Or buying and "baking" cards, then reselling on ebay)

But it is handy to revive a dead card if you can't afford a new one, or don't want to buy a new one at that time...

I'll put a list together of what's worked on / what it hasn't later on...

Originally Posted by GHarris

I find this idea hilarious and I am seriously tempted to try it out on an old 7600GT that started showing lines down the screen after a power surge. But I have a fan assisted oven. Do I need to reduce the temperature setting I use?

If it's damaged by the power surge then the chip itself is damaged, baking only helps if the damage is lose solder joints and nothing else.

Originally Posted by Hypernova

If it's damaged by the power surge then the chip itself is damaged, baking only helps if the damage is lose solder joints and nothing else.

That's what I thought too, to be honest, but I find the idea of baking my video card too funny to pass up.

Originally Posted by GHarris

That's what I thought too, to be honest, but I find the idea of baking my video card too funny to pass up.

I did it because I cant dance. And the cards didnt work anyway.

To people that are going OMG ARE YOU MAD ???
DID you know the manufacturers pretty much all bake ur cards and other components ?
The oven the company uses isnt much different from a Pizza Oven used at CiCi or Pizzahut.
[IMG]http://www.hi-techsources.com/prodimages/27%20Heller%20988C%20front.jpg[/IMG
[IMG]http://sawdust.see-do.org/images/SFEStencil/SFESolderPasteStencil18.jpg[/IMG
[IMG]http://www.interflux.ee/includes/Moodulid/CMS/Komponendid/Failid/view_image.php?file_id=227[/IMG

Do not hotlink images - Vertigo Acid

I had an old FIC Radeon 9700 (flashed to Pro I believe) as well as a Dell OEM Radeon 9800 pro that both suffered from vertical lines on the desktop After a 1-2 years of use.

If I still have them, I'll try this trick just to see if it makes anything better (not that they are in use or anything, but it'd be an interesting experiment).

Thanks for posting this tip.

It also would make of a good back up card LOL

Congrats, but shouldn't your 8800 GTX still be covered under warranty?

I tried this on an artifacting 7900gs but the problem remains. I dont feel comfortable baking electronics in the same oven I used for food so no more hardware baking for me.

Congrats!

This card resurrection is definitely [H].

Very [H]ard indeed!

This reminds me of a similar issue. I have a half working IBM T40 with a video chip connection issue. It's very common and solder reflow fixed with a heat gun are documented online. I don't own a heat gun so I have never gotten around to it. I wonder if there is any possibility of success using an oven instead... of course a laptop motherboard has plastic bits on it like the cpu socket.